The beat of Marlboro County Sheriff's Office School Resource Officers Patrick Legette and Ross Childers involves patrolling and forming bonds.
But instead of patrolling the back roads of the county, their time is spent inside classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias of Blenheim and Wallace Elementary Middle Schools.
As school resource officers, their priority is keeping peace at their schools -- Legette at BEMS and Childers at WEMS.
It could mean fist bumping students as they head to lunch or joining them in a basketball game during P.E. Both Legette and Childers said they are law-related educators and counselors and to some, surrogate parents.
"We are there to show that while we have a badge on, we are human too," Legette said. "We try to humanize us as police officers especially to kids."
Childers tries to incorporate the students into his routine of making sure the school is secure. One day, he noticed the children in line preparing to go to art class. He got in line with them and walked single file with them.
"They thought it was the most hilarious thing," he said. "I did it to bond with the kids and to have fun with them. I was doing this as I was doing my duties."
Both talked about what separates regular SROs from great SROs.
A regular SRO will know the kids from a facial standpoint, he said.