School Safety Part 1: Resource Officers
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher, and injured an additional 21 students. The two then committed suicide.
The mass murder ignited discussion over issues like gun control laws and bullying. And though school resource officers have been around since the 1950s, after Columbine they became more common.
Over the years, several more shootings in schools and public arenas occurred, but the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary reignited debates on gun control and led school corporations to look again at their safety measures. The Newtown, Conn., shooting by Adam Lanza took the life of 27 people, including 20 children and his mother, before he later killed himself.
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Captain Aaron Rovenstine said SROs in the county started after Columbine. Former President Bill Clinton had the Community Oriented Policing Services program in the 1990s where the government offered grants for 100,000 new police officers nationally, and the KCSD participated.
In 2000, the program became available for SROs. The county applied for two and were approved with the county council’s blessing, so one was placed at Wawasee High School and one at Tippecanoe Valley.
The grant from the federal government paid 75 percent for each SRO the first year, 50 percent the second year and 25 percent the third year.
“Those were the two high schools that were out in the county at that time,” Rovenstine said. “We’ve had them ever since. There was a brief discussion by the council after the grant ran out when that three-year period was over ... whether to keep them in the schools or not. They decided to keep them and the county hired them on full time, and we have kept them in the schools ever since.”
SROs are sworn officers. They carry guns, stun guns and other equipment of a sworn officer, Rovenstine said.
Two county DARE officers and the SROs used to go into the schools. Over the last few years, Rovenstine said, Sheriff Rocky Goshert sent the SROs to DARE school, so now the SROs teach DARE as well. That has allowed the sheriff’s department to free up some resources by using the “old” DARE officers on the street.
“I think the schools, they were kind of antsy when they thought they might lose them. I think they thought it was a good thing,” Rovenstine said. “It’s not only given us a deterrent ... but also some eyes and ears in the school. Instead of just having a road officer go into a school and trying to figure out a problem, these officers are in the school, they know the kids, the kids know them, so they’re more familiar with the personalities involved than just someone coming in cold.”
Warsaw Police Department Sgt. Dave Morales has been the SRO for Warsaw Community Schools since the 1999-2000 school year. The other SROs and DARE officers for WCS through the WPD are Cpl. Joe Hawn at Edgewood Middle School and Cpl. Doug Light at Lakeview Middle School. Light and Hawn also each oversee a number of elementary schools.
As for his duties as a SRO, Morales said, “First and foremost obviously is the safety and security of students and staff, making sure daily everything goes smooth within the building and outside of the building grounds as well. It’s also a working relationship between the police department and the school system, acting as a liaison between the two departments, and ensuring they address any concerns or issues with security and/or anything law enforcement-related.”
Parts of the SRO program are law enforcement, counselor and teacher, Morales said. As a teacher, a lot of times the SROs will be invited into the classrooms to teach about different aspects of law enforcement. The SROs may address any law enforcement issue that arises on campus. Ninety percent of his time though is the formal and informal counseling aspect of the program with students, staff or parents.
“It’s a number of those things at any point in time, but the majority of the time it’s building that relationship with that student,” Morales said. “And that is one aspect. There is meeting with them in regards to addressing their issue or concern where maybe they’re not comfortable talking with their parent, talking to a teacher or administrator, so you build that rapport with them, trust, and they usually come and seek you out in regards to helping them out.”
Officer John Hart, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department SRO for Tippecanoe Valley High School, has been in that position for a total of 5-1/2 years, he said.
Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs said, “He’s been in all these buildings. He knows all of our schools and our campus pretty well. He’s always looking. That’s the lens through which he sees things – safety. So as he notices things, he definitely will bring those to our attention.”
Boggs said it’s absolutely essential for schools to have a good working relationship with local law enforcement.
Akron and Mentone police departments work very well with Valley’s elementary schools, according to Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Assistant Principal Scott Backus. And having Hart on the high school and middle school campus “is huge for us because he’s accessible for both buildings.”
“We are blessed to have Officer Hart here. And we’re also blessed to have the local law enforcement officers that we have both in Akron and Mentone,” Boggs added. “I know that they’re spending time at those schools before and after school. They’re in the area. They’re just there. They have a presence there. Anytime we need to pick up a phone and talk to someone, we can do that.”
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On April 20, 1999, Columbine High School seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold murdered a total of 12 students and one teacher, and injured an additional 21 students. The two then committed suicide.
The mass murder ignited discussion over issues like gun control laws and bullying. And though school resource officers have been around since the 1950s, after Columbine they became more common.
Over the years, several more shootings in schools and public arenas occurred, but the Dec. 14, 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary reignited debates on gun control and led school corporations to look again at their safety measures. The Newtown, Conn., shooting by Adam Lanza took the life of 27 people, including 20 children and his mother, before he later killed himself.
Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Captain Aaron Rovenstine said SROs in the county started after Columbine. Former President Bill Clinton had the Community Oriented Policing Services program in the 1990s where the government offered grants for 100,000 new police officers nationally, and the KCSD participated.
In 2000, the program became available for SROs. The county applied for two and were approved with the county council’s blessing, so one was placed at Wawasee High School and one at Tippecanoe Valley.
The grant from the federal government paid 75 percent for each SRO the first year, 50 percent the second year and 25 percent the third year.
“Those were the two high schools that were out in the county at that time,” Rovenstine said. “We’ve had them ever since. There was a brief discussion by the council after the grant ran out when that three-year period was over ... whether to keep them in the schools or not. They decided to keep them and the county hired them on full time, and we have kept them in the schools ever since.”
SROs are sworn officers. They carry guns, stun guns and other equipment of a sworn officer, Rovenstine said.
Two county DARE officers and the SROs used to go into the schools. Over the last few years, Rovenstine said, Sheriff Rocky Goshert sent the SROs to DARE school, so now the SROs teach DARE as well. That has allowed the sheriff’s department to free up some resources by using the “old” DARE officers on the street.
“I think the schools, they were kind of antsy when they thought they might lose them. I think they thought it was a good thing,” Rovenstine said. “It’s not only given us a deterrent ... but also some eyes and ears in the school. Instead of just having a road officer go into a school and trying to figure out a problem, these officers are in the school, they know the kids, the kids know them, so they’re more familiar with the personalities involved than just someone coming in cold.”
Warsaw Police Department Sgt. Dave Morales has been the SRO for Warsaw Community Schools since the 1999-2000 school year. The other SROs and DARE officers for WCS through the WPD are Cpl. Joe Hawn at Edgewood Middle School and Cpl. Doug Light at Lakeview Middle School. Light and Hawn also each oversee a number of elementary schools.
As for his duties as a SRO, Morales said, “First and foremost obviously is the safety and security of students and staff, making sure daily everything goes smooth within the building and outside of the building grounds as well. It’s also a working relationship between the police department and the school system, acting as a liaison between the two departments, and ensuring they address any concerns or issues with security and/or anything law enforcement-related.”
Parts of the SRO program are law enforcement, counselor and teacher, Morales said. As a teacher, a lot of times the SROs will be invited into the classrooms to teach about different aspects of law enforcement. The SROs may address any law enforcement issue that arises on campus. Ninety percent of his time though is the formal and informal counseling aspect of the program with students, staff or parents.
“It’s a number of those things at any point in time, but the majority of the time it’s building that relationship with that student,” Morales said. “And that is one aspect. There is meeting with them in regards to addressing their issue or concern where maybe they’re not comfortable talking with their parent, talking to a teacher or administrator, so you build that rapport with them, trust, and they usually come and seek you out in regards to helping them out.”
Officer John Hart, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department SRO for Tippecanoe Valley High School, has been in that position for a total of 5-1/2 years, he said.
Valley Superintendent Brett Boggs said, “He’s been in all these buildings. He knows all of our schools and our campus pretty well. He’s always looking. That’s the lens through which he sees things – safety. So as he notices things, he definitely will bring those to our attention.”
Boggs said it’s absolutely essential for schools to have a good working relationship with local law enforcement.
Akron and Mentone police departments work very well with Valley’s elementary schools, according to Tippecanoe Valley Middle School Assistant Principal Scott Backus. And having Hart on the high school and middle school campus “is huge for us because he’s accessible for both buildings.”
“We are blessed to have Officer Hart here. And we’re also blessed to have the local law enforcement officers that we have both in Akron and Mentone,” Boggs added. “I know that they’re spending time at those schools before and after school. They’re in the area. They’re just there. They have a presence there. Anytime we need to pick up a phone and talk to someone, we can do that.”
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