School Resource Officer (SRO)
The term
"School Resource Officer" (SRO) refers to officers who apply a
community policing philosophy within a school environment. The school is
their permanent "beat," and SROs pursue a personal relationship with
the citizens of their beat. They patrol and provide a policing function,
they are proactive and attempt to solve problems, and they act in
partnership with the school community.
School Resource Officers
are trained to fulfill 3 primary roles. First and foremost, they are
law enforcement officers whose main purpose is to "keep the peace" in
their schools so students can learn. Second, they are law-related
counselors who provide guidance and information to students, their
families, and school staff while acting as links to support services
both inside and outside the school environment. And thirdly, they are
law-related educators who provide the schools with an additional
resource by sharing their expertise in the classroom.
The SRO
program serves as a way to open the lines of communication between the
school system and the Sheriff's Office, which enables us to address a
wide range of issues in schools such as violence, drug abuse, and any
other problem for which there is mutual concern among school
administration and law enforcement. The SRO program serves as a source
of feedback for the Sheriff's Office to help better understand the fears
and concerns of the community's youth, which in turn enables the
development of problem solving efforts.