Walking the halls of Jackson High School during the lunchtime rush exchanging smiles, fist bumps and hellos, it’s clear that Jackson Police Officers Warren Johnson and David Stallworth are making an impact with students. “I love walking in, seeing the kids, giving them a fist bump and asking how I can help them,” Officer Johnson said.
While the officers do patrol duties on an as-needed basis, being a School Resource Officer (SRO) is a full-time assignment. Johnson is the SRO at Middle School at Parkside and Stallworth is posted at Jackson High School. “We provide that level of safety and security for them to have a productive learning environment. A lot of our work is behind the scenes,” Officer Stallworth said.
The SROs have offices in their respective schools to hold meetings with students, parents, teachers and staff, but they’re often spotted all over campus. Resource officers work alongside staff to provide a robust response when a student is struggling. “I will touch base with some kids who I know have academic or attendance issues, seeing how I can help them understand the importance of school and see if there’s anything I can provide to help them with that,” Officer Stallworth said.
Three years after bringing resource officers back to Jackson Public Schools (JPS), the program is building community trust. “The students see you in a different light. They see you as a human and not just a police officer,” Officer Johnson said.
Kriss Giannetti, JPS Assistant Superintendent of Communications and Community Outreach, says the resource officers play vital roles in school safety plans. “SROs know the schools back and forth. When police respond to a school for an emergency, the resource officers know what they’re going to do and help us coordinate,” Giannetti said. District leaders have noticed the officers providing a critical link between schools and the outside world. “They give us insight into the students, families and situations that we need to know about. I can’t imagine how we would continue without our resource officers. This is something we find to be impactful, necessary, and don’t want to do without,” Giannetti said.
Boosting safety for the entire community is a benefit of this partnership between the police department and school district. “Positive interactions with both students and parents are having an immeasurable impact. The JPD officers who work the road are getting a better response from the younger generation, whether that’s being more helpful with investigations or just having a friendly conversation,” Officer Stallworth said.
The resource officers say they’re happy to do their part to help shape the minds of tomorrow. “Influence kids to make the right choices and be great humans. It’s very motivating and it’s hard not to love,” Officer Stallworth said.