Perry County sheriff’s department hosts criminal justice students for hands-on tour

Perry County sheriff’s deputies gave Tell City-Troy Township School Corp criminal justice students a closer look at the work behind the badge, touring the department’s facility and seeing how day-to-day operations run inside one of the county’s core public-safety agencies.

The school corporation thanked the Perry County Sheriff’s Department for hosting Chief Lawalin’s students last week, saying the group had “a great opportunity to tour the facility, learn more about day-to-day operations, and gain firsthand insight into careers in law enforcement.” The visit turned classroom lessons into a working example of how policing, dispatch, corrections and investigations fit together inside a sheriff’s office.

For students at Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School, the trip offered access to parts of local law enforcement the public rarely sees, from the structure of the department to the routines that keep service moving every day. The school’s staff directory lists Derrick Lawalin as a teacher, and the visit connected directly to his criminal justice students’ coursework.

That kind of hands-on exposure matters in Perry County because it links schoolwork to employment opportunities that can follow graduation. Indiana’s Graduation Pathways are designed to help students line up high school with postsecondary goals, including employment, and the state’s Criminal Justice I framework includes specialized classroom and practical experiences tied to public-safety fields such as law enforcement, loss prevention services and homeland security.

The sheriff’s department visit fit that model closely. Students were not just hearing about public safety careers in theory. They were inside the building, looking at the environment where officers and staff handle daily responsibilities, and getting a better sense of the skills needed to work in the field.

Tell City-Troy Township School Corp’s central office is at 837 17th Street in Tell City, and Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School is at 900 12th Street. The Perry County Sheriff’s Office says it has updated its website to improve community engagement and provide better service to citizens, reinforcing the same open-door approach the students saw in person.

The district’s post appeared on its live feed about a day ago and was also visible last week, underscoring that the visit was a recent part of the school’s career exploration work. For students weighing future paths after graduation, the tour offered a direct look at the public-safety jobs that keep Perry County running.