Jonathan Keys is leaving his position as the school resource officer at De Soto High School at the ending of the 2018-19 school year.

Keys will continue to work for the Sheriff’s department, but in the investigations division instead of the SRO position. His new title will be detective.

Keys believes that DHS has changed some of his perceptions on high schoolers and people in general.

“I think it [working at DHS] has changed my perspective a lot. [It has] probably made me more empathetic and/or understanding of people’s behavior more than anything,” Keys said.

The soon to be detective believes that working at a high school can also change an officer’s thoughts, and he thinks “there’s a perception that in law enforcement you tend to think of things in a black and white way, and going into a school environment, you start seeing maybe there’s a little more grey there than everything just being black and white.”

Keys also explained how officers “try to find solutions in the grey area instead of just punishing behavior. Just really try to modify problems rather than just punishment for behavior.”

Keys is excited to become a detective but will miss DHS very much.

“[I am] just [going to miss] the kids saying ‘hi’ in the hallways and the relationships with the staff and students,” Keys said.

With Keys’ departure, DHS will be getting a new SRO from the sheriff’s department.

“He’s been with the agency for quite a while and was selected probably around two weeks ago. They went through a selection process and he put in his name as someone who wanted to do it,” Keys said. “He’ll [SRO for next year] be shadowing me for the last week of school, and you might see him in and out occasionally before that.”