Grant Enables School Resource Officers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Deputies Don Wiesehan and Chris Rager are a new breed of officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
The KCSD in December was awarded a federal grant of nearly $230,000 to hire two officers to work in area schools. The U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services program grant is intended to provide $125,000 to fund the salary and benefits of each officer. The COPS grant is the same one that has allowed police departments throughout the nation to hire additional officers in an effort to make neighborhoods safer.
Wiesehan was hired from within the department to serve as school resource officer for Tippecanoe Valley schools, and Rager was hired from the North Webster Police Department to serve in Wawasee schools. Both carry the rank of deputy with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
"It saddens me that we have to do this," said Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine. "It's a reality that has come about as a national trend."
Rovenstine said the department received the grant on its second try and that it will fund the school resource officers at 100 percent for three years. After that time, the KCSD might be able to get another grant or could discuss the possibility of establishing a partnership with the schools to split the cost, Rovenstine said.
Discussions with area schools left the need for police officers on campus up in the air, Rovenstine said, until after the Columbine High School incident in Littleton, Colo., which left several students and a teacher dead after two students opened gunfire in the school.
Rovenstine also said that officers were in Wawasee High School during the final two weeks of the 1998-99 school year because of various threats received at the school.
While Rovenstine believes that the officers will make the schools safer, he said he doesn't want to provide the community with a false sense of security. "We can't prevent everything," he said.
The KCSD's school resource officer program is being modeled after what was already started by the Warsaw Police Department, according to Rovenstine. Patrolman David Morales is the school resource officer for Warsaw Community Schools.
Once the programs at Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee are better established, Rovenstine said, each will be made unique to the corporation it serves. "We want to let the administration and staff get comfortable with it," he said.
Wiesehan said he sees it as his duty to assist the schools in the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. with security issues as well as being there for the kids. "I'm trying to serve a cause where I came from," said Wiesehan, a 1986 graduate of Tippecanoe Valley High School.
"I want to be able to let parents be assured we'll do the best we can do to make sure their students come home," Wiesehan said.
Wiesehan said he wore his full uniform to the schools the first two weeks, but is phasing that out because "it's seen as a force field and kids can't approach a cop in uniform." He will be wearing clothing marked with the sheriff's department insignia, though, to identify him as a police officer.
Wawasee School Corp. wanted Rager more casual from the beginning, and he has been sporting slacks and a denim shirt with the sheriff's department star on his breast since the onset of his duties with the schools.
Rager said he's been making contacts with the kids and letting them know that a police officer is just a person. "I want them to know that they don't have to be scared of police," Rager said. "I want to let the kids know my face and know my name."
Rovenstine sees the placement of officers at area schools as an advantage with response times to both Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley schools, which he considers to be located on the "fringes of the county" - Wawasee High School is at the northeastern end of Kosciusko County and Tippecanoe Valley High School and Middle School are at the county's southwestern boundary. Wiesehan and Rager also will be policing traffic before and after school in problem areas around the schools in an attempt to slow speeding motorists and prevent accidents.
The issue of school safety is somewhat outside the bailiwick of school administrators, Rovenstine said, "and these guys can lend some expertise."
The officers are not in the schools to serve as school disciplinarians, but will step in if a student crosses the line from a disciplinary problem to a criminal matter.
Most students, the officers said, are receptive to their presence. However, Wiesehan said he spoke to a speech class at TVHS for about half an hour recently and the students didn't like that they were being monitored in school. At the end of the class period, though, the students had a better understanding about the officers being in the schools for the safety of the whole student body rather than looking for reasons to get a kid into trouble.
"It's an opportunity for the public to see that the schools are worried about school safety and are trying to do something about it," Rager said.
Rovenstine said the positions will require a lot of self-motivation on the part of the officers. They also will attend school staff meetings and extracurricular functions.
The two officers will attend a two-week school resource officer training this summer to better equip them for their jobs.
Wiesehan has been with the KCSD since 1994 and served as an officer with Winona Lake Police Department for two years prior. He is married and has one child.
Rager, who graduated from Warsaw Community High School, is married and his wife is expecting their second child. [[In-content Ad]]
Deputies Don Wiesehan and Chris Rager are a new breed of officer with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
The KCSD in December was awarded a federal grant of nearly $230,000 to hire two officers to work in area schools. The U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services program grant is intended to provide $125,000 to fund the salary and benefits of each officer. The COPS grant is the same one that has allowed police departments throughout the nation to hire additional officers in an effort to make neighborhoods safer.
Wiesehan was hired from within the department to serve as school resource officer for Tippecanoe Valley schools, and Rager was hired from the North Webster Police Department to serve in Wawasee schools. Both carry the rank of deputy with the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
"It saddens me that we have to do this," said Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine. "It's a reality that has come about as a national trend."
Rovenstine said the department received the grant on its second try and that it will fund the school resource officers at 100 percent for three years. After that time, the KCSD might be able to get another grant or could discuss the possibility of establishing a partnership with the schools to split the cost, Rovenstine said.
Discussions with area schools left the need for police officers on campus up in the air, Rovenstine said, until after the Columbine High School incident in Littleton, Colo., which left several students and a teacher dead after two students opened gunfire in the school.
Rovenstine also said that officers were in Wawasee High School during the final two weeks of the 1998-99 school year because of various threats received at the school.
While Rovenstine believes that the officers will make the schools safer, he said he doesn't want to provide the community with a false sense of security. "We can't prevent everything," he said.
The KCSD's school resource officer program is being modeled after what was already started by the Warsaw Police Department, according to Rovenstine. Patrolman David Morales is the school resource officer for Warsaw Community Schools.
Once the programs at Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee are better established, Rovenstine said, each will be made unique to the corporation it serves. "We want to let the administration and staff get comfortable with it," he said.
Wiesehan said he sees it as his duty to assist the schools in the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. with security issues as well as being there for the kids. "I'm trying to serve a cause where I came from," said Wiesehan, a 1986 graduate of Tippecanoe Valley High School.
"I want to be able to let parents be assured we'll do the best we can do to make sure their students come home," Wiesehan said.
Wiesehan said he wore his full uniform to the schools the first two weeks, but is phasing that out because "it's seen as a force field and kids can't approach a cop in uniform." He will be wearing clothing marked with the sheriff's department insignia, though, to identify him as a police officer.
Wawasee School Corp. wanted Rager more casual from the beginning, and he has been sporting slacks and a denim shirt with the sheriff's department star on his breast since the onset of his duties with the schools.
Rager said he's been making contacts with the kids and letting them know that a police officer is just a person. "I want them to know that they don't have to be scared of police," Rager said. "I want to let the kids know my face and know my name."
Rovenstine sees the placement of officers at area schools as an advantage with response times to both Wawasee and Tippecanoe Valley schools, which he considers to be located on the "fringes of the county" - Wawasee High School is at the northeastern end of Kosciusko County and Tippecanoe Valley High School and Middle School are at the county's southwestern boundary. Wiesehan and Rager also will be policing traffic before and after school in problem areas around the schools in an attempt to slow speeding motorists and prevent accidents.
The issue of school safety is somewhat outside the bailiwick of school administrators, Rovenstine said, "and these guys can lend some expertise."
The officers are not in the schools to serve as school disciplinarians, but will step in if a student crosses the line from a disciplinary problem to a criminal matter.
Most students, the officers said, are receptive to their presence. However, Wiesehan said he spoke to a speech class at TVHS for about half an hour recently and the students didn't like that they were being monitored in school. At the end of the class period, though, the students had a better understanding about the officers being in the schools for the safety of the whole student body rather than looking for reasons to get a kid into trouble.
"It's an opportunity for the public to see that the schools are worried about school safety and are trying to do something about it," Rager said.
Rovenstine said the positions will require a lot of self-motivation on the part of the officers. They also will attend school staff meetings and extracurricular functions.
The two officers will attend a two-week school resource officer training this summer to better equip them for their jobs.
Wiesehan has been with the KCSD since 1994 and served as an officer with Winona Lake Police Department for two years prior. He is married and has one child.
Rager, who graduated from Warsaw Community High School, is married and his wife is expecting their second child. [[In-content Ad]]