What inspires one to be a police officer? The new School Resource Officer (SRO) Rich Morrison had two main motivations for getting involved in law enforcement.

“I first started at the root of wanting to help people. Another piece of it was to get to do the fun, ‘cool’ cop stuff,” he said.

Morrison has been with the Fluvanna County Police Department for over 20 years, including being involved in the Investigations Division, where he says he investigated “almost any case imaginable,” some of which involved explicit materials. After a while, it began to take a toll on him, and he needed a change of pace. He requested to be moved to an SRO position and has been the SRO at Carysbrook for the last two years.

When last year’s FCHS SRO, Josh Greene, was promoted to Lieutenant at the Sheriff’s Department, Morrison began splitting his SRO duties between FCHS and Carysbrook, where he is known among the students for doing magic like performing card tricks and making a cloth disappear.

“I wanted to figure out a way to break the ice with the kids. I thought, how, as a uniformed police officer, could I become approachable to these kids? My uncle had been a magician since I was a kid, and I thought that this would be a good tool for building rapport,” said Morrison.

Recently, Morrison was approached about resurrecting an FCHS club, YOVASO, which stands for Youth of Virginia Speak out About Traffic Safety. The YOVASO club is a youth program addressing teen traffic safety.

“Although I have heard about the program, I currently do not know too much about it, but am open to learning about it and possibly running it,” Morrison said. He said he is also interested in reinstating the Sheriff’s Office Explorer’s Program, another youth program focusing on getting teenagers involved in law enforcement.

“Mostly I want folks to know me for me and not necessarily for the badge and uniform. Although those things are the most visible representation of what I do, it is not all of who I am,” said Morrison.

When he is not at work, Morrison enjoys ice hockey, mountain biking, and grilling on his Blackstone. He has three kids, Alex, Sam, and Emma, who he says are all very active.

Morrison said he wants students to know that if they have any questions or concerns, they should not hesitate to reach out to him at [email protected].