Question

Discuss police in schools, including an example of a school-based program with a school and police partnership. Explain your view of police officers in schools.

Answer 1

School network officers have different positions. The roles of school-based officers in schools that differ depending on the school system, but certain duties exist such as mentoring, coaching, building alliances, establishing relationships, and maintaining student health. The amount of time spent at the school often varies – hours available may either be full-time, part-time or on-call. Officers also play a mixed function in classrooms, depending upon the school's particular characteristics.

For school-based officers, the most important things to learn are what their job is, and how best to communicate with students, parents, administrators, teachers, and staff while on campus.

Many officers are now being school youth leaders and building meaningful partnerships with students and their families. Most officers consider young people who are at risk or insecure, and understand that playing a mentoring role can be helpful – particularly if a young adult needs support or has no guidance or consistency in his / her home life. Being a mentor helps campus officers to develop relationships with these individuals and help direct them through the financial, educational, and social pressures that are part of becoming a teenager