Promoting a Safe Environment by Getting the Most out of Your Resource Officer

Deputy Andrew Davis

Alachua County Sheriff’s Office

You have just been issued a brand new School Resource Officer, Resource Deputy, or Security Specialist. What do you do now? The concept of school policing and resource officers has been around since the 1960s. However, in Florida, not every school has been afforded the luxury of having an armed security presence on campus. After the Parkland School shooting tragedy, the implementation of the Stoneman Douglas Act and Senate Bill 7026 in Florida has driven a magnitude of changes and a variety of school safety efforts are in place or underway. The Office of Safe Schools, formed and based in Tallahassee,  holds the responsibility for maintaining oversight of safety training events, school safety assessments, and active threat drills for all public schools in Florida.

Assuming your school’s security solution includes a School Resource Officer, let’s discuss the different ways you can maximize the skills and knowledge of your safety professional. Most likely, you will have a resource officer who truly cares about children and is excited about his/her new assignment at your school. Law Enforcement Officers are protectors by nature and they are taught a “priority of life” throughout their initial and continued training, to put others before themselves.  The lives of innocent victims and bystanders come before that of any individual law enforcement officer. A suspect who comes to deal violence and harm comes in last. This means those officers and deputies should and will place their lives in danger in order to protect you, your staff, and all of the students.

Your resource officer is a wealth of knowledge for you to utilize to make your school safer and more secure. The officer will be able to provide you with tips on best placement for cameras, adjust your public address system, and advise you on any security deficiencies located on your campus.

One way to capitalize on the vast knowledge your resource officer brings to the campus is to make him/her an essential part of the school. Build a strong working relationship with your resource officer, in the same manner, you would anyone else on your leadership and/or administrative team. Add them to your leadership team and include them with the inner-workings of the school. Let your resource officer be the school safety and security expert. Add them to your meeting agenda and allow them to update your faculty and staff at monthly meetings. Collaborate with your resource officer and involve them in your school safety assessments. Allow them to help you create a schedule and set dates for drills and remember to always debrief with your resource officer, along with the rest of the leadership and administrative team, after each practice drill. This is a great opportunity to discuss the positive aspects and immediately correct any negative outcomes that may or may not have occurred during the drill.  

I understand that extra space in schools today is almost unheard of and every single usable space is occupied. Therefore, the likelihood of your school having a turn-key spare office for your resource officer is remote. You should try to strategically position your school resource officer’s office as close to the front of the school as possible. This will allow your resource officer to help mediate the occasional dispute in the front office such as calming an angry parent that is creating a disruption. Having your resource officer positioned in the front office area or as close as possible to the front of the school creates more of a team approach and promotes a sense of belonging for your resource officer. Placing your resource officer in a freshly cleaned out storage closet in the back of the school with a sign on the door that reads, “Break glass in case of Emergency” sends a clear message to students and parents about the relevance of that officer on campus, and could leave the officer feeling like they aren’t needed or even wanted at your school.

Now, let’s talk briefly about what your resource officer should be doing during the day. Your resource officer should be an asset to you as an administrator and maintain a highly visible presence on your campus. Your resource officer can provide you with assistance related to child custody issues and help with disputes in a law enforcement capacity. They understand civil injunctions and paperwork associated with child custody and restraining orders. Your resource officer should constantly be working on ways to improve the school's overall security through physical changes, staff training, and recommendations. They can ensure that classroom doors are secure on a daily basis and all gates and corridors that can be secured, are.  They can provide training to your faculty and staff not only during pre-planning but also throughout the year.

The school resource officer should be an active counselor, mentor, and protector (the TRIAD) to your students in continuation of the TRIAD concept established by some of the first resource officers. Even in current times of turmoil and active threats to our schools, your resource officer should not lose sight of being mentors and counselors who make themselves available to the students and staff. The resource officer should be involved in community events and be a familiar face both in and outside of the school. They should be able to identify children who are in need of services and help provide or coordinate those services for them. Your school resource officer should also be attending law enforcement training events. They should strive to ensure your school is complying with current best practices as it relates to school safety and security.

Finally, let’s talk about what your resource officer is not. Most importantly, your resource officer is not a disciplinarian. Their authority should not be confused with that of the school dean, behavioral resource teacher, or administration. The resource officer should only be utilized in a law enforcement capacity for events or situations that are criminal in nature, such as the possession of illegal substances/paraphernalia, weapons violations, battery, assault, etc. School resource officers should not be asked to remove students from classrooms for refusal to comply with school policies such as cell phone use or other common behavior issues. Your resource officer should not be utilized for staff duties, or to serve in the capacity of a staff member. Lunchroom duty, issuing parking citations, or filling in for an absent teacher is not what your resource officer is intended for. The reason behind this is so the resource officer is never placed in the compromise of having to abandon one duty for another during a critical incident.  Keep in mind that your resource officer should maintain his or her responsibility as a mentor and counselor. Many children have been raised to fear law enforcement; school resource officers have a unique opportunity to correct that fear and reshape relationships.  

In closing, not all of this information may apply to every administrator.  Many of you have had resource officers for years and feel very comfortable working alongside them, but this is new territory for some. Unfortunately, some administrators have had multiple resource officers or temporary resource officers that float from school to school. This makes it difficult to truly develop a shared responsibility and bond with their officer.

The greatest thing that I would like to highlight is the importance of building a relationship with your school resource officer. In the long run, you will benefit tremendously by involving your school resource officer in the daily inner-workings of your school. Collaboratively making decisions as a team will give your officer ownership and buy-in.

Best wishes for a safe and successful 2019-2020 school year. Providing a safe learning environment for our students remains to be our #1 priority. Look for the upcoming issue of FASA Magazine for a more in-depth look at this and other safety topics.

D/S Andrew Davis is a Career security and law enforcement professional whose 20-year experience spans Federal, State, Local as well as Primary and Secondary Education level policing and security. He currently serves as Archer Elementary Schools' resource officer and has been since 2014.