This week, a new school resource officer, Coleman Marshall, joined the staff after Officer Matt Buelt’s promotion. Marshall has worked in law enforcement for 15 years, making Southwest his first school as an SRO, and he said he has enjoyed the community so far.

“The staff is friendly, the students are friendly, so once I kind of get the lay of the land, I think everything will go smoother,” Marshall said.

Officer Mark Kelly, who was Buelt’s partner and had known him for 18 years, said the transition to a new partner was different, but said he had enjoyed getting to know Marshall during his first week.

“It’s been great so far just working on getting to know each other and getting him acclimated to how we do things in the school environment,” Kelly said. “Part of the fun of being in law enforcement is doing something fun and different all the time.”

Kelly has been with the Blue Valley campus police since 2015 and became a police officer in 2006. With this being his sixth year at Southwest, Kelly said that as risky as the job is, he still enjoys coming every day.

“I started at Blue Valley West, and from there I knew I was never going to do anything else other than be an SRO,” Kelly said. “There’s never been a day where I didn’t want to come to work or wasn’t excited to come to work, and there’s never a day I don’t enjoy being here.”

Marshall said the reason he decided to become an SRO was to help create a safe place for students and staff, especially given the events that have taken place recently throughout the country.

“I think there’s a need for [SROs] in schools right now, obviously with everything that happened in the past couple weeks and months,” Marshall said. “You hear about that and want to make a positive impact on not only students but also the faculty because they’re also a part of the school and trying to give back to that group in the collective and trying to make everyone have a safer environment.”