Posted on Aug 21, 2007

Another school year is upon us. While parents and students prepare for that first day back, our School Resource Officers (SROs) look forward to serving on school campuses across the county. For those who might wonder why it’s necessary to have law enforcement officers in our schools, we can best explain it as a triad approach to public safety and education. This is accomplished through law related presenters, law enforcement, and law related counseling. The SRO concept is the placement of an experienced law enforcement professional in the High Schools, Middle Schools, and Elementary Schools. Each school district has different needs, and officer assignments are made accordingly, through grant programs. Johnson County Sheriff’s Office currently has _7_School Resource Officers and one Absent Student Assistant Program Officer serving in Joshua, Godley, Alvarado, Grandview, and Venus. Allow me to introduce these Deputies: Jerry Scott, Venus; Tim Kinman, Godley; Glen Woolsey, Alvarado High School; Laurie Stovall, Grandview; Monica Tharpe, Joshua Jr. High; David Hoschar, Joshua High School; David Hutchison, ASAP Officer for Joshua. These officers are dedicated to creating and maintaining safe, secure and orderly learning environments for students, teachers and staff. We appreciation their commitment to the children, parents, and school personnel in each district. School Resource Officers establish a trusting channel of communication with students, parents, and teachers. They serve as a positive role model, helping to instill in students good moral standards, good judgment and discretion, respect for other students, and a sincere concern for the school community. Another positive is promoting citizen awareness of the law to enable students to become better informed and effective citizens, while empowering students with the knowledge of law enforcement efforts and obligations regarding enforcement, as well as consequences for violations of the law. We have been pleased with the performance of our SROs, who also serve as a confidential source of counseling for students and parents concerning problems they face as well as providing information on community resources available to them. With such a program, officers represent much more than “cop in a shop.” The SRO program reflects a community partnership between law enforcement and school districts to ensure that our schools are safe, secure, and orderly learning environments. Without that SRO presence, it is becoming increasingly more difficult for schools to maintain desired levels of security. To summarize, the SRO should be considered as an additional resource to whom the school community can turn. As such, the SRO fulfills three roles by using this triad approach. In our case, the Deputy acts as law enforcement officer, law-related counselor, and law-related presenter. As a law enforcement officer, the primary purpose is to “keep the peace.” As a law-related counselor, the Deputy provides resource guidance to students, parents, teachers, staff, and acts as a link to support services both inside and outside the school. As a law-related presenter, the Deputy will share special law enforcement expertise by presentations in the classroom to promote a better understanding of our laws, and helps stabilize student discipline. The SRO, then, serves as a positive role model for students on campus during school hours and off campus at extracurricular activities. We are blessed in this county to have strong partnerships with our schools and communities, and look forward to many more years of safeguarding our educational environments.