School Resource Officers (SROs) Brent Erthall and Morgan Waters enjoy meeting the children where they are by establishing long-term, positive relationships. While Officer Erthall has been an SRO since 2018 and spent a year at Benton High School before transitioning to Benton Grade School, Officer Waters is new to the program, recently completing the necessary training and finishing her first year in the school system after seven years of night patrol with the Benton Police Department.
Building
Connections
MORGAN WATERS
& BRENT ERTHALL
The duo’s primary duty is to maintain school safety & security. From monitoring video surveillance to conducting an hourly patrol of the campus to conducting training exercises to ensure students, facility, and staff are adequately prepared for an emergency, all their activities center around maintaining a presence within the halls and growing familiarity with the students. Officer Erthall and Officer Waters share the same passion – building positive and proactive relationships with the youth of Benton during their most formative years.
“Kids becoming more comfortable with police officers see them as a friend rather than a threat from a young age,” shares Officer Erthall. He adds, “I like being around the kids, interacting with, kidding around with them. There are times kids come up to me to talk about stuff that they likely wouldn’t talk to others about. They felt comfortable because of the relationships we’d formed and the interactions we’ve had.”
Officer Waters primarily works with kindergarten through fourth-grade students. In contrast, Officer Erthall spends his time with the fifth through eighth grades. While both have their respective areas of Benton Grade School School, their partnership magnifies their ability to focus on campus safety and security in ways that allow their partnership to magnify their levels of attentiveness.
The teamwork is obvious. Officer Erthall cites the school system’s ability to work together as one of its primary strengths, modestly admitting that Officer Waters and he share the same level of flexibility, sharing knowledge, training, and covering down for one another if and as needed. ‘The teachers and staff here are great. We all work here together as one big team.”
Erthall grew up in Franklin County, sharing that he was raised in West Frankfort and played football and baseball for the Red Birds. Both of his children are now adults who graduated from Benton High School. Reflecting, he shares that rather than pursuing a career in law enforcement, policing found him.
“I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know what led me to become a police officer, exactly,” shares Brent. He continues, “One of my cousins worked in the sheriff’s Department, and they happened to have an opening at the Franklin County Jail. I thought I might be interested in something like that, and I liked it, and things progressed from there.”
Morgan was born and raised in Benton. This daughter of two educators now patrols the same school she once attended. She and her husband are raising a blended family of three girls. Their two oldest attend here at the Grade School, with Morgan commenting that seeing them in the halls is an exciting aspect of her day-to-day.
“I grew up in Benton. This community means a lot to me. I went to this school. I get to come back here and see familiar faces. My dad, Jerry Corn, was the assistant principal here before retiring a few years ago,” says Morgan.
Like Brent, Morgan didn’t anticipate a career in law enforcement. “I can’t say that ever since I was a little girl, this is what I wanted to do,” says Morgan with a laugh. Instead, she enrolled in a criminal justice class in college, and the topic piqued her interest. She says, “Opportunity arises, and I ran with it.”
Brent was one of the first Benton SROs, starting at the high school in 2018. He’d transitioned from working as a Correctional Officer at the Franklin County Jail to a Benton Police Officer in 2002. While transitioning into the high school required some initial thought, Brent quickly accepted the position. He worked at the high school for one year before transitioning to the Grade School, where he was joined by Morgan, who says she jumped at the opportunity.
“I got into law enforcement to make a difference. I really thought if I got into the school, that would be the best place to start. I’m with the little kids,” says Morgan. “The first day of school, they see me. I’m just normal now. I’m just like a teacher, walking the halls to them. It’s not odd or scary for them.”
She adds, “If I can, I’ll finish my career in this school. I’ve grown so fond of it. I want to show the kids the positive relationship you can have with police right out of the getgo. So, if they see me outside of here, and some do, they automatically have that connection.”
While many schools lack the community resources that make having an SRO program possible, Benton has two well-trained and experienced officers stationed on the campus, showing the best while being trained and prepared for the worst. While their daily duties maintain safety, the real magic comes from how the youth of Benton regularly interact with and get to know Brent and Morgan as not only police officers, but as people. The positive and proactive relationships Brent and Morgan are building within Benton’s youth through their countless day-to-day interactions will not only give the school community a duallayer of security, but will positively impact the relationship between young people and the police for years to come.
The teachers and staff here are great. We all work here together as one big team.
