Booth
By Charlotte Caldwell
SIDNEY — Houston School Resource Officer (SRO) Bill Booth will retire in August after being an SRO for 20 years and holding the title of the county’s first SRO.
Booth, 66, graduated from Sidney High School and completed two years at Lima Technical College for law enforcement. He has been with the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office for 42 years, and his previous roles at the department before becoming an SRO include being in corrections for about two years; road patrol for about 20 years; and being on the SWAT team for about 15 years. He also worked six months at the Auglaize County Sheriff’s Office before getting hired in Shelby County.
Booth wanted to become a law enforcement officer because, “It was something I always wanted to do all my life. The two jobs I ever wanted to do growing up was be a cop and a coach and I was fortunate that I got to do both jobs for a long time.”
With his passion for coaching, he was the head coach of girls’ fast-pitch softball at Lehman Catholic High School for 34 years; a junior high basketball coach at Holy Angels Catholic School for about four years; and a youth basketball coach at the YMCA for about five years.
“My No. 1 job being a school resource officer is to protect the school and protect the children, and that’s my main job, and that’s the reason I wanted to do it was to protect the children, and the school, and the staff too,” Booth said. “When I first started, I was the first resource officer for the county, so my first job I worked at Houston, Fairlawn, and the alternative school. I worked at all three. Then eventually I was down to Fairlawn and Houston, and the superintendent at Houston asked me if I would be interested in being there full time, which I was, because when you’re at three schools, you’re bouncing around; I would spend two, two and a half hours at each school, and you don’t really get to know the kids. But now, I’ve been full-time at Houston for over 12 years, and you really get to know the kids and you get to watch them grow up. It’s just a great job.”
“One great thing about my job is kids will come up to me and talk about everything, everything that they can’t talk to anyone else about,” Booth continued. “It’s just unbelievable that they would come talk to me because I’m with them every day, and they can trust me. But it’s a great job, I love my job, I love going to work every day. I got the best job there is to have.”
After retirement, Booth will stay on the law enforcement reserves and be on the substitute list for the school district. He has a condo in Florida so he will also be doing some traveling.
“It’s been a very hard decision for me to decide to step away,” Booth said.
According to Shelby County Sheriff Jim Frye, the Sheriff’s Office currently has seven full-time deputies working at Sidney Middle and High Schools, Botkins, Fairlawn, Houston and Anna High and Elementary Schools. Some deputies are also paid directly by Sidney Schools and are located at Northwood, Longfellow, Emerson and Whitter. A new full-time deputy recently started at the alternative school. Frye already has a deputy in mind to replace Booth.
