Police can be called to school for emergencies, but they also have a regular presence in the form of resource officers.
Last May, a former student opened fire at Dixon High School’s gym during graduation practice. Resource Officer Mark Dallas pursued the shooter after he heard the gunfire, and stopped him with a non-fatal shot to the shoulder. Dallas’s story made national news, and he was hailed as a hero for preventing a massacre.
Responding to active shooters is part of a resource officer’s duties, especially since they’re drawn from city or county departments. But it’s not part of their day-to-day routine. Curtis Sockwell is the resource officer for Rockford’s Auburn High School. He says when Rockford began deploying resource officers, they operated on a part-time basis.
“At that time, there were like different people at different times," he said. "You didn’t really have that regular individual that was always here. I think they started the actual unit about 11-12 years ago.”
The work of a resource officer is focused on cultivating relationships with students and the community. Sockwell says this is important both for public safety and day-to-day interactions.
“You have students that would not hold a conversation with a police officer or go in and talk to that officer on the street, but we have a relationship here where they felt comfortable coming in and talking to me about things,” he said.
And it takes a special kind of officer willing to cultivate those relationships. DeKalb Detective Aaron Lockhart explains what led him to the job.
“I would stop by the schools quite a bit," he said. "At one point, I had been on bicycle patrol. So during the day, I would stop by the schools, eat lunch with kids, and then I became involved like a counselor, helping out kids that go to classroom, read books to the younger kids.”
Lockhart applied to be a resource officer as soon as the opportunity presented itself. He says the position requires special training.
“To be certified as a juvenile officer, you know a lot of the laws, and a lot of the officers don’t go through that specific training because obviously there are a lot of different laws for juveniles that don’t apply to adults,” he said.
Lockhart adds that when discipline issues arise, it’s often more prudent to make the experience a teachable moment, rather than going straight to tickets or an arrest.
“We try to handle it where it’s a learning experience and they’re getting a benefit by talking to the police and learning, 'Hey when I’m 18, that’s actually going to be on my record, and when I apply for a job' -- You need to be able to think how it could affect the future and how you need to change,” he said.
Resource officers also take part in classroom presentations, such as warning about the dangers of driving under the influence. They also help with ALICEtraining, which teaches students and faculty how to respond when there’s an active shooter. Outside of school hours, Dixon resource officers coach sports such as football and track.
But even with relationship-building as a major part of the job, there are still times when resource officers will need to respond to a crisis. DeKalb High School Principal James Horne says that’s where an officer’s standard training comes into play.
“They do have knowledge on how to work crowds, how to manage crowds, and how to respond when emotions maybe are heightened, that certainly you don’t see in a principal preparation program at a university,” he said.
This was especially true in May when Officer Dallas thwarted the shooting at Dixon High School. Principal Michael Grady says Dallas’s training was important, along with a good relationship between the school and city police.
“Everything worked well that day, and the result was about the best it could turn out," he said.
Grady says they’ve gotten more careful about security. Dixon High School in particular greatly cuts down access to its more than 30 entrances after the school day begins.
“We lock all the doors except the one main entrance where the kids have to come through or any visitor has to come through a secure vestibule," he said. "So we know who’s entering the building. Plus, we’ve added another hundred cameras around the building.”
Superintendent Margo Empen says Dixon Public School District 170 is also coordinating more with city police and the Lee County Sheriff on emergency response.
“When we’re creating plans and we’re running drills, it’s all hands, so no matter who responds, everybody is keyed into what to do and knows the protocol," she said.
Along with a revision in emergency response, resource officers also are dealing with new types of school issues. Rockford Police Sergeant Tim Speltz is supervisor for Auburn High School Resource Officer Curtis Sockwell. He says the rise of the internet means resource officers now also have to address issues such as sexting and cyberbullying.
“It seems like a very large percentage of the issues that we deal with in the school either start or continue from social media.”
But outside of these new developments, Speltz says Sockwell’s duties, like those of other resource officers, remain consistent.
“He’s the mentor to the kids, he’s the police officer and he’s the classroom presenter,” he said.
And most importantly, a resource to the school and community.