This year your School Resource Officer team is going to be sharing topics monthly in the Newsletter to engage with parents and send home some tips for safety both at school and home. This month we are going to be discussing the role of the School Resource Officer within Poudre School District.
Your Fort Collins Police School Resource Officers are certified police officers who have all received basic and advanced police training through the Fort Collins Police as well as a nationally accredited Police Academy. We all then have been through a School Resource Officer school which is a national certification from National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) to become SROs and work within the schools.
Your SROs are taught the concept of “The Triad” during our NASRO School which is the foundation for In School Policing. The Triad concept explains that an SRO should be Three Things:
First and foremost, we are Law Enforcement Officers, meaning we are Sworn Peace Officers capable of investigating crimes, traffic accidents, responding to emergency situations, writing traffic tickets, and of course providing security, safety, and officer presence at all our schools and school events.
The second component of The Triad is, Mentor. We all have chosen to become SROs not to write tickets but to mentor the youth of our community. We want to help in building high quality young adults and recognize that the better the foundation the stronger the individual. We mentor students in all manners of life, from good decision making to conflict resolution, as well as mental Health and wellbeing.
The third component of The Triad is Teaching & Guest Speaking. Often SROs are asked by Teachers to come to class and lend our expertise to certain lessons. With all the SROs on the team, that expertise varies greatly from school to school, but often we teach lessons on the Bill of Rights, Traffic Safety, Bicycle Safety, Internet Safety (for both students and parents), Cyber Bullying, or School Safety. We love the opportunity to impact the youth in our community and any chance we are presented to interact in healthy and helpful ways we are going to jump at the chance!
We are looking forward to a Safe and Incredible year in Poudre School District and please if you every have questions reach out to your SRO! We are on the same PSD Schedule as our Schools and are always available to help wherever we can! Keep an eye out for next month’s SRO Corner! Below is my bio so you know who I am.
