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The Brundidge Rotary Club welcomed Pike County Deputy Hope Carlisle, school resource officer for the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, to its mid-March meeting.

Carlisle was immediately recognized as the deputy who drives that “cool” Camaro.

Carlisle, laughingly, said she does get a lot of comments as the deputy in the Camaro. 

“I like driving the Camaro and the kids think it’s cool and that’s good,” said the Brundidge native who was a city cop for 10 years before coming back home three years ago. She was a resource officer for the Troy City Schools and now for the Pike County Schools in Brundidge and Banks.

Carlisle told the Rotarians that she serves as a liaison between the students and the sheriff’s department.

“I feel comfortable talking to people and that includes students and parents,” Carlisle said. “I believe they both respond better when you approach them in a friendly way.”

Carlisle said students are, too often, looking for good time and try to find it through TikTok and vaping.

“With TikToking, a video-sharing app, they are trying to have a good time but it doesn’t always turn out that way,” Carlisle said. “Vaping is an electronic device that simulates tobacco smoking. Vaping is addictive so we show them photos of what vaping can do to their lungs.”

As a school resource officer, Carlisle said she has many opportunities to be a positive influence in the lives of the students she serves.

“I want to do all I can to keep our students alive and safe,” she said. “And, we don’t want them to be members of the inmate population.”

Carlisle is available at all school functions including sporting events, proms, parades, parent/teacher meetings and also at home visits. She assists with the Child Identification Program at the schools she serves.

“My goal is to be a positive influence at the schools I serve,” she said. “That is my goal and my hope.”