Southport Police Department’s (SPD) Lt. Aaron Allan was fatally shot while in the line of duty on July 27. His passing has created a vacancy at SPD, which has now been filled by Perry Township Officer
Kyle Vaughn.

Before receiving the job, Vaughn was employed at SHS as one of the full time police officers. There, he helped students and staff throughout the school. Vaughn not only made friendly relationships with students and staff while employed at SHS, but also the other SHS officer, Ashley Rose. Vaughn stated that he enjoyed working with Rose, who is currently the only full time officer at SHS. He considers Vaughn a hard worker and a professional acquaintance.

“He is a 25 year old captain, so that’s not something you often see,” Rose said. “I know for a fact he is dedicated to his profession.”
While working at the school, Vaughn made an impression on some of the students, and with some even formed good relationships according to freshman Reagan Dilk. Dilk is one of those students. Dilk explained that Vaughn would help students with their homework and he would tell the students funny jokes. She refers to him as a friend rather than a superior because of the way he interacted with students. Vaughn said that he enjoyed working at the school even though it was for a short amount of time.

“I went to school (at SHS), so it was like being back at home,” Vaughn said.

There are differences between working at the police department and working at SHS. At SHS officers are dealing with teens. In the town of Southport, officers are dealing with “every walk of life,” according to Vaughn. He also stated that while working at SHS he had to pay some attention to what is popular to teenagers and things that are going on in social media. Topics like this helped to improve the safety of the student body and staff. It also allowed better relationships to be made between the officer and the family of people at SHS.

Vaughn explained how he was chosen for this position. A list was made by his superiors for the job. Vaughn was third on the list. The first applicant on the list declined the job offer and the second person on the list was Lt. Allan. After the death of Allan, Vaughn was selected because he was next in line.

A physical check up and interviews were also required before Vaughn was chosen as an option for the job.
Since Vaughn has moved from SHS to the Southport Police Department the school is currently looking to hire another full time officer. It has not yet been decided who the new officer will be or when the officer will begin working at SHS. On a daily basis, instead of dealing with students, Vaughn is now patrolling Southport. This includes stopping cars, checking
on local businesses, and “keeping the city of
Southport safe.”

“I am helping out anyway that I can,” said Vaughn.