The School Resource Officer is the next step in Community Oriented Policing.  The School Officer is an asset used by the community and the school in an attempt to address situations in the lives of students in a forum other than the judicial system. 

The School Resource Officer serves as teacher, counselor, role model, and advocate for students, families, faculty, and staff.  The School Officer is not the school disciplinarian, nor does he/she supplant any other staff function.  The School Officer brings full service, personalized policing to an important segment of our community.  With a full-time presence in the schools, the School Officer is an easily recognized and approachable resource for students.

While at the school, the officer is involved in a variety of functions aimed at prevention.  Besides being an active high profile law enforcement officer, the School Officer is a resource for students, parents, teachers, and the administration regarding law issues.  The School Officer will walk the halls and the school grounds.  Working hand in hand with the Principal in each of our schools, the School Officer assists with finding solutions to problems affecting school age children. 

The officer is highly visible to the students and tries to stop any type of problems that might occur on or around school grounds.  In the classroom, the School Officer presents classes topics such as the history of law enforcement, search and seizure, constitutional rights, criminal law, and drug abuse.

We currently offer and are providing a full range of prevention programs for kindergarten to 12th grade.  Kindergarten through fourth grade programs focus on personal safety (sometimes known as "stranger danger"), conflict resolution, drug, alcohol and violence prevention.  The 5th grade program is the 10 lesson Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) core curriculum.  Grade 6 - 7 is Bullying Prevention, a Teaching Tolerance program, and a DARE follow-up program.  8th and 9th grades focus is a safe and healthy teen relations program, and for 10th, 11th, and 12th grades is the "Every 15 Minutes" teen choices program.

The School Officer’s duties extend far beyond the classroom and normal workday.  The officer participates in PTO and faculty meetings, club projects, student social functions, and sporting events.  The School Officer’s presence demonstrates the officer’s commitment to the students and tends to strengthen the student / police bond.  This also demonstrates the Sheriff’s Department’s willingness to go beyond the normal tour of duty, safety and interest of the students.

The School Officer program is a proactive approach to deal with the pressures today’s young people find themselves having to confront.  This includes the use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, along with peer pressure, gang activity, and sex.  These situations are not only faced in the schools but in the community as well.  The approach of addressing these issues only in the schools, or only in the community, has not been completely effective for us.  Traditionally, police and schools did not interact until one called upon the other.

The ultimate goal of the School Officer program is to maintain and improve the safety of the learning environment in our schools through reduction and prevention of school violence and drug abuse.  The School Officer’s focus is prevention and deterrence; the officer does all criminal investigations on campus, coordinating their activities with the school administrator.

Our communities have seen a rise in violence and crime rates among our young people. The awareness of such activities, as well as the victimization of our youth, have deemed a need for prevention and intervention on behalf of service providers-law enforcement.  The School Officer can be one of the most positive combatants of youth crime and victimization.  The officer integrating the School Officer concept into our schools will build a solid rapport between himself or herself, the students, the law enforcement agency and the school system in our community.