Deputy Van Horn - Davison County Sheriff S.R.O

10/21/2026

Some of you may have seen or heard that I have not been around the schools recently. Many contributed to the wonderful fundraiser that the Mount Vernon School did for my Family.

At that time, Haley had been emergent flown to Sioux Falls for severe pregnancy complications, a few short days later, our son, Atlas was born.

Atlas is very premature, born at only 27 weeks. My Family and I appreciate everyone’s thoughts, prayers, and well wishes in our journey. We will be with him in the NICU for at least a couple months. There may be a period where I return to work part time, a day or two a week, and then spend the rest of the time with Atlas.

I do not expect to return to full duty until after the first of the year.

Atlas has shown us he is a little fighter, as he hits two weeks old today and has already overcome many obstacles, with many more still yet to go.

I thank Sheriff Harr and Davison County for their overwhelming support with my leave during this time, and I thank both schools for their incredible understanding and support through this journey as well.

Much love, the Van Horns.

10/20/2026

A great resource provided by the State Department of Public Safety, whom I have been to several trainings with

On Thursday, November 19th, we will host a parent/community presentation by the SD Department of Public Safety/School Safety titled "Keeping Kids Safe in a Digital World." The discussion will include bullying/cyberbullying, social media trends, online risks, and practical ways parents can monitor online activity, establish boundaries, and keep communication open with their children. The event will be held in the school lunchroom from 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm. The public is invited.

08/31/2026

We are just starting our second full week of school for Ethan and Mount Vernon!

Before school began, I did summer inservice training with staff at both schools. We did the refresher for critical incident response and a refresher of stop the bleed, with the help of the Mitchell Fire Department.

Last year, I had made an announcement in regards to donations for safety supplies for both schools. Those donations were used, and every classroom at each school now has supplies for critical event response.

DARE starts for the 5th grade classes this week, parents of the 5th grade class, your kiddos should be bringing home some information for you to look at.

Condolences to the family of Dean Deinert, the Mt Vernon bus driver that passed away last week.

Here’s to the 26-27 school year!

07/09/2026

Interested in meeting and speaking with your local law enforcement?

Kiddos want to check out emergency vehicles?

Stop in and say hello during National Night Out!

07/04/2026

Today as we celebrate 250 years of America’s Independence, I would like to wish everyone a safe, happy 4th of July spent with loved ones.

06/26/2026

This week I was in Sioux Falls attending two courses through the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO).

Advanced SRO and Adolescent Mental Health.

A few of the topics of training included: School Safety Law, Violence Prevention, Psychological Indicators, Youth Brain Development, Crisis Prevention and Intervention, Mental Health Conditions, and Emotional Orders and Disabilities.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

05/20/2026

Titans! Rustlers!

I would like to wish all the Staff, Students and Parents a wonderful summer break. I thank all of you, and the communities, for your support.

In our first year, we worked on building relationships.

This year, we worked on safety and security measures. And we’re going to keep on going!

Stay tuned, and enjoy summer break!

05/14/2026

Shortly after 4 pm today, our dispatch center received a 911 call of kids screaming on a bus. Very rapidly after, dispatch received 4 additional calls all similar, with someone yelling for help and that they were in Mt Vernon.

I quickly called the school, and found that there were issues with the Mitchell Route Bus from the school, and that the bus was returning to the school. No other information was available at that time.

Myself and two other members of the Sheriff’s Office responded to the school. While I understand this may have presented some stress to parents or students, please remember we had no further information and needed to ensure the safety of Staff and Students.

Upon arrival at the school, I met with school administration and several students outside. There were students yelling at school administration, yelling at responding Officers, and attempting to leave.

The schools utmost priority is safety of students and staff. I had told the school not to allow anyone to leave until we could determine there was no danger and that everyone was safe.

After getting the situation resolved, it was determined that there was never any danger to any student or staff. I stayed with staff to assist in getting a message out and was also present at the parent meeting to answer any questions.

I thank everyone involved for their patience and understanding. I hope we have a great final two days in Mount Vernon before the kids get to enjoy their summer!

05/13/2026

I sat in Mount Vernon this morning observing morning drop off, after receiving complaints from members of the community and school staff about safety issues. In about a half hour, I witnessed over 40 violations of various traffic laws. Mainly stop signs or people staring at a phone.

I know that school is almost over, but slow down, use caution, and make sure everyone can make it to school safely.

Have a great Wednesday, everyone!

05/02/2026

Doing a ride along tonight with an Ethan student who wanted to learn more about Law Enforcement.