A good guy with a gun? SRO’s relationships seen as real weapon for school safety |
On Board Online • February 25, 2013
By Cathy Woodruff
The first voice Sgt. Mark Spain heard when he checked telephone messages was shaky. “I’m just a little overwhelmed by everything right now,” the man said. His son had been charged with drug possession.
A few moments later, a school social worker dropped by Spain’s office at Watervliet Jr./Sr. High School to let him know about a possible sex abuse case. “I’m pretty sure (the student) is going to want to talk with you,” she said.
Then, shortly after a teacher confirmed a date for the officer to speak to a class, Spain perused an FBI update on the investigation of an online predator believed to be targeting two Watervliet students. The investigation was triggered when the girls told Spain they’d been contacted in a chat room accessed through an iPod app. One had been asked to send naked pictures of herself.
The issues at hand that morning revealed a small slice of Spain’s world as a school resource officer (SRO). When he’s not assigned to SRO duty, which is at least three days a week when school is in session, he is a juvenile officer on regular city patrol – though he acknowledges that lines between the two assignments often blur.
“When I’m working the street, I’m still in touch with the school,” Spain said. “Administrators can call me on my cell phone, and I come up here and re-enter the SRO role.”
Interest in SROs, and what they cost and what they do, has rekindled since a young man armed with a rapid-firing assault rifle killed 26 children and educators at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School in December. The officers, who typically carry firearms as part of their uniforms, provide a regular law enforcement presence inside school buildings.
President Obama recently proposed initiatives to help schools hire up to 1,000 new school resource officers, school psychologists, social workers and counselors as part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance school safety.
NYSSBA also is advocating for more SROs.
“NYSSBA wholeheartedly supports state and federal funding of School Resource Officers,” said David Little, director of governmental relations. “They perform the invaluable function of not only deterring violence, but of counseling and ferreting out potential threats, as well as responding to actual emergency conditions.”
Supporters of SROs say their value goes far beyond the armed security type of post touted by the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups, which argue that the best way to protect children from an armed intruder is to place “good guys” with guns inside the school.
“I think it’s ludicrous,” Watervliet Superintendent Lori S. Caplan said when asked about the NRA’s proposal. “An armed guard means nothing. I don’t want this place to look like a fortress. To do this job and do it right, it’s not about who has a weapon at the front door. It’s about relationships.”
As Watervliet’s SRO, Spain participates in countless conversations and meetings with teachers and administrators about students, events and school policy, Caplan said. “He is the immediate connection to the community for us.”
A familiar, friendly face at school – and the father of two students – Spain also is typically the first responder summoned when trouble breaks out. He intercedes when there are fights, arranges for dogs to sniff lockers and conducts other searches. He has arrested students and parents on charges related to drugs, weapons, assault and other criminal behavior.
Experts say the number of SROs is certainly far smaller than it was five years ago. The jobs have been among the first cut amid strain on public sector budgets, but they are on the table again after the Sandy Hook shooting.
In Ontario County, for example, Sheriff Philip Povero said he has one full-time deputy and one part-time deputy working as SROs in three districts: Victor, Honeoye and Marcus Whitman. Two cities, Geneva and Canandaigua, have separate arrangements with their districts.
But Povero used to have six full-time deputies assigned to six districts, and he’s been working since December with county and school officials to find a way to restore those jobs.
“I have seen many well-intentioned law enforcement programs come and go, and this is perhaps one of the best,” Povero said. “SROs have had an enormous impact on the lives of students.”
The New York State Police operated one of the most visible programs with its School and Community Outreach Unit, which started with 11 people in 1999 after the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado. In 2000, 37 SROs were added through a U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing (COPS) grant, and the total was brought to 92 with a second COPS grant in 2002.
But it was up to the state to sustain funding after the three-year federal grants expired, and the State Police ended the program in 2010.
The Department of Criminal Justice Services certifies SROs in New York, but the agency does not track how many there are, a spokesman said. The New York Police Juvenile Officers Association, a professional organization, is conducting a count.
“There’s really not a good handle on who is where,” acknowledged William Aiello, a retired Olean police officer who is the executive director and only paid staff member of the association.
Brian Forte, a retired Guilderland SRO who is the volunteer training director for the association, said he hopes to have an estimate on the number of qualified SROs within a few weeks.
Funding arrangements for SROs vary widely, and a 2005 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice found that to be one reason it is hard to estimate the typical cost of a program.
Spain, for example, is on the Watervliet police payroll, but the school district contributes a portion of his salary.
In Rochester, 12 SROs serve the city’s 12 secondary schools. They are employed by the city police department but funded by the school district, a spokeswoman said.
The Brewster School District splits the cost of middle school and high school SROs with Putnam County and restored an elementary school SRO at district cost after the Sandy Hook shootings.
Brewster Board President Stephen Jambor said a Putnam County Legislature subcommittee also is studying ways to bring SROs back to more schools.
“SROs know who the kids in trouble are, and they know who is brushing up with the law,” said Jambor, a child psychologist and professor of psychology at Fordham University. At the same time, he said, SROs can offer support and guidance to children who don’t click with traditional therapists.
“For some children who may be on the fence with things in life, sometimes this is just what they need,” he said.
Spain’s work typifies the spectrum of roles an SRO can play.
He starts almost every day in Watervliet at the school door, he said, watching as students arrive. It’s not just about security. He’s tuning in to expressions and body language, looking to gauge whether there was trouble at home that morning or the night before.
“You can tell by looking at their face what kind of day they’re going to have,” he said. “Sometimes, knowing that somebody cares is enough to get that conversation going.”