High school students at Foss, Lincoln, Stadium, Wilson and Mt. Tahoma high schools will soon have an opportunity to meet the School Resource Officer (SRO) from the Tacoma Police Department (TPD) assigned to their school. Five SROs, one for each comprehensive high school, will form relationships with students and provide SRO services starting Sept. 2, as part of a collaborative effort between Tacoma Public Schools (TPS) and TPD. The SRO program is a strategy to address potential school violence with both prevention and intervention techniques.
Strong partnerships between the district, city officials and TPD made hiring additional police officers possible. “The goal is to ensure safety in the schools, thereby fostering a better learning environment for students,” said the Tacoma Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Arthur Jarvis.
SROs will work closely with school administrators, security officers and other staff members to address concerns related to security and criminal activity on and around each campus. Officers can provide students with information about the criminal justice system, law enforcement's role in society and the ethical issues and consequences of criminal activity. Officers can also assist school staff by providing non-professional counseling to students.
Tacoma school resource officers are: Foss, Officer Matt Watters; Lincoln, Officer Bryce Clother; Mt. Tahoma, Officer Gordon Stark; Stadium, Officer Chris Yglesias; Wilson, Officer Zach Smalls.
Efforts to increase security with SROs in the high schools began in 2007. The school district set aside $300,000 to pay for five full-time, on-duty police officers. Secondary Education Director Miguel Villahermosa heads up these efforts for the district. “Law enforcement brings enhanced understanding and expertise on safety to the public school setting. The hope is that a police presence in schools will symbolize an active partnership to move from reacting to events to a place where officers, students and community members as a whole are participating in solving problems of criminal content,” said Villahermosa.
According to the police department, the SRO program is assigned to the TPD Homeland Security Division where a lieutenant and captain oversee the program. TPD pays for a sergeant’s position to supervise the Tacoma SROs. TPD Sergeant Frank Krause supervises the SRO program and serves as an immediate liaison between the SROs and the high school principals.
The district has emergency and safety plans in place so every student has a learning environment that is safe, challenging and exciting. The district enforces a zero-tolerance policy for the possession of weapons on school property. Students who possess firearms or other weapons on school grounds or at school activities will receive appropriate disciplinary action.
A benefit of having a full-time SRO at the school is that he or she can develop relationships with students. It provides consistency and communication—strengthening opportunities for students to get to know the officers and feel comfortable providing information on potential issues.
The SRO program allows school-based law enforcement officers, school administrators and school security/safety professionals the opportunity to work collaboratively to protect students and staff members at their school. The SRO program was developed utilizing the baselines set forth in the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) training curriculum, along with local and state requirements.
Contact Miguel Villahermosa at 253.571.1032 for more information.