The Oro Valley Police Department's Student Resource Officer ("SRO") program places 7 officers in the school that are located in Oro Valley. The idea of placing an officer in schools originated in the midwest in the 60's. According the Oro Valley Police Chief, Danny Sharp, the program has been in existence in Oro Valley, in some form, for at least 30 years. "The SRO program is based on a “triad” concept of school-based policing. The triad concept divides the SRO’s responsibilities into three areas: Teacher, Counselor, and Law Enforcement Officer." (nasro.org)
"The Officers are there to be a resource for the kids. They are not campus cops," noted Chief Sharp during our visit with him yesterday.
The Amphi School District provides campus security. Campus security will contact the SRO if a situation arises in which they need police assistance. Otherwise, the SRO are there to counsel and to educate students.
Chief Sharp noted that the presence of the SRO promotes familiarity with law enforcement between a student and the officer, in addition to providing a positive image of law enforcement. The result: Students can discuss situations with the SRO in a private, confidential, low-risk setting.
The SRO teaches in the classroom. Each SRO, as with all Oro Valley officers, has been trained to speak before groups. Discussions occur around topics including sexting, bullying, cyber-bullying and search and seizure law, the latter a topic discussed as part of a civics course. There is also a forensics class at CDO and Ironwood Ridge, a course that requires prerequisite science classes. We asked the Chief where we could sign up for it!
"Officer-Counselor-Educator." Chief Sharp believes that the SRO reaches a "target rich environment" of at-risk students. "Then again," noted the Chief, " today, all students are at-risk."
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15 comments:
Good story, Richard.
I hope this answers some of the questions about the value of the SRO program and why we are so very fortunate to have these dedicated officers serving our youth, their parents and all of our community.
Oro Valley School Resource Officers
Prior to 2008, the School Safety Program was a state-funded grant that placed School Resource Officers (SROs) and/or Juvenile Probation Officers (JPOs) in selected Arizona schools to contribute to safe school environments (including Oro Valley).
When an Oro Valley resident pays the Pima County Taxes, a portion of those taxes are identified as primary and secondary Amphitheater School Taxes which go to support the Amphi School District Budget.
The Amphi School District provides no budget for School Resource Officers for those schools that are in Oro Valley.
Since the state eliminated any funding for school safety, there has been no intergovernmental agreements for adopted budgets FY2008/2009, 2009/2010, 2010/2011, FY2011/2012 and FY2012/2013 between Amphi and Town of Oro Valley for school resource officers. The Town of Oro Valley “contributes” about $700,000 per year to the Amphi School District from the Town budget.
The Oro Valley School Resource Officer is identified as a teacher and counselor.
There is no specific job description for an Oro Valley SRO Officer. The Oro Valley Police Department considers the seven SRO officers as an operational assignment. The SRO job description is for a regular law enforcement police officer (classification 2760). There are no specific skill requirements or training for the position of school resource officer on the job description.
John Musolf
School Resource Officers (7) are assigned to: Canyon del Oro High School (2), Ironwood Ridge High School (2), Copper Creek Elementary (1), Painted Sky Elementary (1), and Wilson K-8 (1). There is also a supervising sergeant leading this unit.
John -
I'm not really sure what you are trying to tell us here. Are you saying this is a bad investment of our resources because there "is no specific job description"? Could you please elaborate?
Without a job description, how is the employee's job performance properly evaluated? How does one determine whether the employee...
1) does not meet expectations
2) meets expectations
3) exceeds expectations
How can they be an effective "teacher and counselor" when they have no training nor specific skills in this area?
Topic for the AZ Moose.
What, exactly do we in the OV get for our rather high county property taxes?
OVDad,
I'm not sure what John is trying to say, but I say 'yes,' this is a bad investment of our resources, but not due to the lack of a 'specific job description.' If the figure of $700,000 a year is accurate, and I have no reason to doubt John's numbers, it defies common sense to allocate that much money to an operation that has such a nebulous return on investment. I would think that these officers could visit the schools once or twice a month, accomplish just as much good, and free up valuable resources for higher priority activities. My daughter went to Painted Sky from kindergarten to 4th grade, and I would often ask her about the officer. She never once had anything interaction with the SRO, so I wonder if the activity of 'teaching' is target at specific students, such as at-risk students. Anyway, I just don't see this expenditure as fiscally prudent, which should, in my opinion, be the mainstay of all levels of governing bodies, including those of towns with populations less than 50,000. Just my two cents....
Christopher Fox
QUOTE: "The Town of Oro Valley “contributes” about $700,000 per year to the Amphi School District from the Town budget."
I think the 700K includes more that the SRO. Please tell me I am right.
Our schools are NOT drug Free. Ironwood and CDO are loaded with drugs and not a safe drug free environment. The middle schools aren't much better. The SRO's are a complete waste of resources in the schools. They have take home vehicles that they don't need. That is a waste of resources. I know of an SRO whose take home vehicle that has sat at home unused since August. Yes, you read correectly. It has not moved once since August. Don't tell me that isn't a waste of taxpayer money. I have so much to say about the SRO's but I'll stop here. All of you who adore and believe in them will only argue and tell me how wrong I am. What I have posted I know is factual, and not based on rumor.
Would the drug problem be worse if the SROs were not on station?
Nombe,
It's hard to measure the result of preventive measures. Certainly, the presence of police officers in our schools and even the mere presence of a police car outside the school building brings some measure prevention of crime.
r u kidding me......
There are a couple of things pretty obvious from your posting.
You seem to have an ax to grind when it comes to the SRO's. I wouldn't hazard a guess why but there is serious anger in your words.
The discussion on SRO's has never made any claim that the schools are drug free. And you are correct, we have serious drug issues in the schools here in Oro Valley. I wish more people realized the problem as you do. I would be in favor of random drug testing of students. If the taxpayor is going to pay for the education then I want to make sure you mind is capable of absorbing what is offered.
According to the Amphi enrollment statistics and using Musolf's figure of $700,000 for the annual cost of SRO's, their presence in the schools cost the Oro Valley taxpayer, $.65 (that's 65 cents) per student per day. While I readily admit to being very pro OVPD and the SRO program, I think that most reasonable people would look at that cost and say that it is money well spent and a pretty modest investment in the safety of our school children.
The second thing I have gleen from your comments is that you may be viewing the police vehicle of an officer that has been on medical leave for some job related injury or medical reason. It is also pretty obvious that the cost of the vehicle being there continuously since August is very low......since "It has not moved once since August."
And as Richard very accurately points out you cannot measure that which has been prevented. And Nombe question about the level of drug activity is also spot on.
I don't have an axe to grind as you would like to think, I just stated facts. I do appreciate that you acknowledge that i am aware of how bad the situation is in the schools. More people should be open to the fact and realize that our children are not going to schools that are drug free and safe. And they should be.
Could things be done differently with the SRO's that would make them more effective? Yes. But until things change, I stand by what I said. To know that take home vehicles sit unused for 4 months, and are used for personal use is completely unacceptable. Nobody should have a take home vehicle sitting at home unsused for any length of time. The vehicles should be available to other officers to use.
You can think that those are words of anger, and you can think that i have an axe to grind all you want. All I did was state facts. Maybe more people should get a little angry, maybe that is what it will take to make a difference. I'm not anti police, and I'm not against having officers in the school. They should be able to be there and do more. But we have a serious problem and the way things are being handled now isn't helping anything.
Can the problem be worse without them? Maybe, but the kids are already getting anything and everything at school. Drugs, alcohol, you name it. So you tell me what the SRO presence is doing to prevent this problem. Let me also be clear, this problem belongs to the school district too. They need to make changes that will start to have a serious impact on this problem. The SRO's and OVPD can't do it alone.
R u.....
While "drug free and safe" are great goals, it's a utopia that I doubt we will ever see.
I find it interesting that you place blame on the SRO's and the schools for some (or all) of the drug problem but you fail to mention the true source of the issue and that is crappy parenting. That's where your anger will do the most good. I would submit to you that some of the children are exposed to more drug and alcohol abuse at home than they are at school. Many are physically and verbally abused.
I might also suggest that you write or make an appointment with an Amphi Governing Board member and discuss your issues with some of them. They make the rules. And as I have previous stated random drug testing of students will be a major positive step in helping to reduce drug abuse in the classroom. I would go so far as to require it at admission each year. We want kids to be vacinated but don't care enough beyond that to require them to pee in a bottle from time to time. And if a child is discovered to have drugs or alcohol in their system an after school program could be set up and future mandatory tests be performed.
If you want to get serious about this problem, start there. You and I chatting on this blog may be somewhat entertaining but not very productive.
Objective Thinker.....
I agree completely with your latest comment. I can't even put it into words how just much I agree with what you said. Sadly, too many will disagree with drug testing stating that it violates their childs rights. Just as others say that K-9 dogs at the school also violate the kids rights. What is going in the schools and on school property, is the responsibility of the schools and the SRO's. They have a responsibility to make them as drug free and as safe as possible, no matter what the kids are experiencing or learning at home, or what they are learning off campus.
It is sad to see what kids are exposed to at home. But not all kids are exposed to anything at home. Not all kids come from a bad home environment or crappy parenting. Of course a completely drug free environment will never be achieved, but what we have now is out of control and scary. It's bigger than Amphi, bigger than Oro Valley, it's a countrywide problem. The Problem is bigger than most people realize and want to acknowledge. Too many say "not my Kid".
Drug testing in schools? I can see the Huffington Post outrage headline now.
But think about it. I had a government security clearance for years and I was subject to drug testing for most of my working life, maybe "teaching" some students what it takes to have a job with quite a bit of responsibility would not be a bad thing.
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