(upbeat music) - No two school resource officer jobs in Wyoming are ever quite the same, but there's one thing about which every SRO in the state probably would agree.

When you're a school resource officer, you're doing some of the most rewarding police work there is.

We'll meet Wyoming's SROs I'm Steve Peck of Wyoming PBS This is Wyoming Chronicle - [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities, thinkwy.org and by the members of the Wyoming PBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.

- [Narrator] When the annual state convention of Wyoming's school resource officers opened in Riverton, the participants sounded a consistent theme.

- It's real meaningful when you go in there and you make a positive impact on some of these kids.

- Definitely, you know, you hear all the time, you know, if you find something you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life.

- What I like to say, the best kept secret in law enforcement.

Once you're in, you really don't want to get out of that SRO position.

- Yeah, it's been great.

It's like Jake said, the best job in law enforcement.

- [Narrator] As the conference began, school resource officers from across the state recalled how they got into it and what they get out of it.

- We're here today with Wyoming Chronicle at the Wyoming State School Resource Officers Safety Convention.

Sir, tell us your name.

- My name is Jake Conilogue, I'm with the Lander Police Department and current president of our association.

- I see.

Jake, thanks for being with us today.

What is a school resource officer exactly?

- So a school resource officer is an officer who's trained in law enforcement, but specially trained to work inside a school setting.

So we follow a national training organization called NASRO, it's the National Association of School Resource Officers.

We go through their training and what they call a triad approach of being an officer, a mentor, and a teacher to function well within a school setting.

- How long have you been a police officer?

- So, I've been with the Lander Police Department for 14 years this July, and 11 of those years as a school resource officer.

- So that seems like a long time.

It's work you enjoy, ain't it?

- It is, it's what I like to say the best kept secret in law enforcement.

Once you're in, you really don't want to get out of that SRO position.

It's one of my passions, something I love dearly.

I really enjoy working with kids and having the honor to work with them in the school setting and our education staff is just really, really great.

It's so much fun and enjoyment of what you can do to give back.

- What's your name and what's your department?

- Yeah.

I'm Matt Koritnik with the Powell Police Department.

I'm a school resource officer.

- Matt, welcome to Wyoming Chronicle.

What got you interested in being a cop and an SRO in particular?

- Yeah, since I was in high school, actually one of my school resource officers kind of set the, got me interested in law enforcement so I did some ride-alongs and decided after high school that's what I wanted to do.

- So it was the SRO, observing the SRO experience in particular that drew you to the profession in general?

- A little bit, yeah.

I think every kid kind of grows up wanting to be a firefighter or a police officer, but high school we had to kind of pick a career path and that's what I decided I was gonna do.

- How long have you been with the Powell department?

- I've been in Powell for four years, but a police officer for 11 years.

- Where were you before then?

- I started my career in level, level police department and I actually spent a couple years at the Lander Police Department.

- Really, okay, and how long have you been an SRO now?

- This is my second year as an SRO.

- Enjoying that?

- Yeah, it's been great.

It's like Jake said, the best job in law enforcement.

- Sir, tell us your name and your department please.

- So, my name's Cody Myers.

I'm with the Shoshoni Police Department.

- As an SRO?

- I am.

- How long have you been a law enforcement officer?

- Um, going on 18 years.

- 18 Years.

An SRO for a good part of that time, right?

- Most of it, about 15.

- Good.

- Yeah.

- I think when people, I think a lot of people have probably have a general idea of what an SRO is, but it's in, in this day and age, I think there might be a particular emphasis on people worrying about and thinking about and contemplating the active shooter situation that unfortunately has been in the news just again here this summer.

I gather that a lot of what you do is not so much training in how to take down an active shooter, although clearly that's part of it, but a big part of it is trying to make sure that it never gets to that point, is that fair to say?

- That is fair to say.

I think that the relationship part of that, I think is missed a lot.

It's not just having that officer at school walking around with a weapon.

It's, if you can develop those relationships, whether that's through coaching, in the classroom, you start being able to identify with these kids and talk to 'em, and when they're having some of these issues, mental health issues, they're able, you know, they have that confidence to come and talk to you about that and letting 'em know, you know, it's all right, you're not the only one that feels that way.

And then the resources that are available to us to help maybe that student, sometimes that teacher maybe get some help that they need.

So I think with the security part, the way I look at it is, I mean, if you look at Riverton, when I was over, I was in Riverton PD for most of my career, three SROs, we were all on the SRT team, so all SWAT guys, and you're seeing more of that highly trained individuals in the schools, which is important, but that's kind of on the back burner, that's stuff that we're doing, you know, that it's not out front you.

You need to have those individuals that are trained and we're seeing more of that.

- Tell us your name please and your department.

- My name is Joel Robertson.

I am a police officer at the Rawlins Police Department.

- And an SRO in the Rawlins School District, is that right?

- Yes, yes.

- How long have you been a cop?

- I have been with the Rawlins Police Department for right at 10 years now.

- 10 years.

SRO most of that time or how long?

- Nope.

Last year was my first year as an SRO.

I'm a sergeant with the police department, so I was lucky enough to get in there and try it out and I've really enjoyed it.

- What made you wanna try it?

- So I'm from Rawlins, I grew up there and I've over the years I've definitely seen how much the impact on kids can benefit the future of Rawlins so that was something that I really wanted to get in there and make that impact on our youth so that later on in life we're not dealing with them in a negative manner and more of a positive manner.

When I initially got in there, a lot of the kids didn't know who I was.

I mean, they'd probably seen me around town, but in the school side of things, they didn't know who I was.

So within just a couple of months, the kids started trusting me and talking with me and communicating with me and by the end of the year, I mean, I had lots of friendships with lots of kids and during the summertime, me out driving around on a routine patrol, I mean, they'll see me and they're like, Hey, Sergeant Robertson and they wanna say hi and they remember me and it's real personal between us and them and they trust me.

I mean, we've done camping sessions with a lot of the kids with camp Postguard, just a bunch of different activities.

- [Announcer] As Sergeant Robertson noted and others echoed, among the most useful and beneficial tools the SROs have is an annual event near Casper called Camp Postcard.

- So Camp Postcard is, Postcard stands for Peace Officers Striving To Create And Reinforce Dreams.

So it's a program that I've been involved with for 17 years.

It's through Volunteers of America so they're kind of the funding portion of that.

They go out with Daniel's Fund, Ellbogen Foundation, they get the funding and then most of the officers that go up to camp are police officers or SROs, we've had dispatchers that'll go up.

So we spend six days on Casper Mountain with about 80 kids, fifth going in the sixth and sixth going in the seventh, just doing character building, leadership, team building.

The National Guard has played a big part in that too in the past.

- [Announcer] Here's a look at Camp Postcard with our thanks to Volunteers of America for sharing it with Wyoming PBS.

- And there is something every year that's something that happens that says that magic moment, you know, it's like, this is why I do what I do.

- There's so many cool things.

If it's, you know the success from accomplishing a task of a kid that flat out did not want to climb the rock wall, the fear of that, but then to be able to reach it above the red line by the time that we did the olympics.

- And then I had fun and I faced my fear of heights.

- [Scott] The kid that's having troubles with the group that they're getting along with, but can from us mentoring them and talking with them to, to learn how to not initially go on the defensive or on the attack and start fighting, but to actually ask for help and raise their hand and get somebody to help and just be willing to be able to acknowledge, hey, I'm gonna need help for certain things.

You know, the kids' joy of getting out and playing and having fun those were really some of the cool things.

To see the groups come together, the teamwork and actually get it to click.

- 1, 2, 3, right.

1, 2, 3, left.

1, 2, 3, right.

- If we work as a team, we'll get things done and if we go our separate ways it will take longer.

- You know, to have some of the struggles and then to be able to work through it and actually make it work.

- [Group] Motivated, motivated, down-right motivated.

You check us out!

You check us out!

Smooth Hoo Hoo Hoo!

- Each year you learn something new and have different new experiences.

That's what the amazing thing is, is that anybody that comes up here is gonna gain an experience.

If you put a kid that's never climbed the rock wall in front and you just say, climb that wall, you got 30 seconds, do it now, do it now.

You know, they're probably gonna fail.

You put 10 kids behind them, that are cheering them on, they know their name and they're saying, you can do it.

Even if you get one foot, that's a win, you know, it changes lives, it truly does.

- And to see them gain skills on how do I deal with this, how do I deal with these emotions?

How do I rise above, how do I have personal courage?

And it's all the things we do through the team building activities sets them up to have those skills to be successful and to stand out and to be lead and to have that personal courage to take a risk and to where they get to go on and take these skills back to their community.

Seeing kids that were campers stay successful, stay positive, stay drug-free, do good well in school, whether it's through the teaching of cowboy ethics here or just the encouragement of personal courage and doing trusts falls and learning to rely and to lead and to follow, all those things come into play.

- Trusting?

- You can trust us.

- Fall away?

- Fall away.

(kids cheering) - [Travis] And I challenge the kids when I'm selecting them we're gonna go home and bring the things that we've learned, those leadership skills, the communication, listening, talking, stepping up, doing the right thing in the right moment.

We're gonna bring that stuff home and I expect that and I'm watching for that when we get home.

- I'm gonna take home my leadership and I'm gonna take home a better attitude and I'm gonna try and work hard and get straight A's in school and I'm gonna try and be the best person I can be.

- It's about helping kids to learn that are from challenged backgrounds, from broken homes, from whatever their social problems are.

It's really about teaching kids there are adults out there that care about you.

You can be successful, you can overcome, you can try, you can do.

And sometimes it's just in the trying the kids are able to reach their goals and become something they never dreamed they could have been.

(kids chanting) - [Group] Thank you Volunteers of America!

- Throughout our conversations with these unique officers, the same word came up again and again, relationships, relationships, relationships.

- So one of the big roles as a school resource officer is you go in those schools, you build that relationship and that rapport with those students and you learn who they are, how they are say.

- Say, I think that the relationship part of that I think is missed a lot.

It's not just having that officer at school walking around with a weapon.

It's if you can develop those relationships, whether that's through coaching, in the classroom, you start being able to identify with these kids and talk to 'em and when they're having some of these issues, mental health issues, they're able, you know, they have that confidence comes and talk to you about that.

- Getting to spend every day at school with the students and staff, building those positive relationships with students, that's one of our main goals as an SRO is to show students and young youth that law enforcement, you know, there's a positive side, not always a bad time when law enforcement shows up.

- So people think that you're not sitting out there with a radar down in the parking lot or scowling at students as they walk by.

You're more almost a part of the faculty in a way.

- Definitely, yeah.

We're just like a teacher, a counselor, administrator, high fives at the door at the beginning of the school day and know a lot of the students on a first name basis, so it's pretty great.

- [Steve] I presume most of what you do wouldn't necessarily really be associated with the typical kind of law enforcement activity that an average viewer might.

- Yeah, a very small percentage of what we do, less than 10% is enforcing laws or criminal investigations so.

- [Steve] Is this something that you'd want to continue to do or is it, do you rotate in and out of an SRO position or how does that work.

- Yeah, definitely a lot of agencies will rotate every few years.

That's how our agency has done it in the past but it's to build those relationships.

It's definitely something that a guy could do for several years.

And you're talking with them and throughout talking with them, you understand or you get the feeling that there's something going on with them cuz it's just not normal for them to act that way.

I mean, that's when you can look into it and be like, Hey, you know, what's going on at home?

Is everything okay?

Is it something in school?

Is it something at home?

And over that time of working with them and interacting with them you're able to identify that stuff.

And it's real meaningful when you go in there and you make a positive impact on some of these kids and they remember who you are and they trust you and that's the big goal here is that we want these kids to understand that we're not just there for the bad stuff, we're there to help 'em, we're there for them.

We're there if they need somebody.

- [Steve] Principally you're working with students of course, but there's a big part of it I'm sure is working with faculty, staff, parents at times, others.

- Yep.

So obviously with working in the schools, you're..

I work in every school in Carbon County School District One, so I'm working on college campuses, elementary school, middle school, high school, so I'm dealing with all different types of people.

One of my biggest concerns going into it was the parents.

I was real concerned about how the parents were gonna react but the biggest thing is, same with the kids, is if you build that trust and relationship and friendship with the parents as well, they know where you're coming from, they know what you're doing is beneficial for their kids, so they're more trusting in what's going on and an understanding of the situation.

So it's actually been very, very beneficial for me going in there and just really communicating with the parents, explaining to them what's going on and why I do what I do and 99% of the time they understand it and appreciate what we're doing.

- And the students become confident in the SRO where they can approach them if they have issues or questions so.

- [Steve] So you're with Powell Police Department and the Powell School District.

Is that K through 12, your duties expand or extend to the whole.

- Yep.

So Park County School District One, we've got six schools, four elementary schools, and then middle school and a high school.

- [Steve] And you're the SRO for all of it?

- Yep.

We actually have two SROs.

We're pretty lucky in our school district.

- [Steve] Who's your partner?

Let's mention him on statewide TV.

- Yeah, Paul Sapp.

He's our middle school SRO.

- I'm assuming that in a decade and more in the position you've seen changes.

What's new in the world of SROs in 2022?

- So when I first started, even in law enforcement, you know, 14 years ago, just the aspect of how you confront school safety.

I went to a rural school, we didn't have a school SRO and so the concept is fairly new to me.

But being able to see the progressions that have gone through, not just, you know, lock the doors, be quiet, that was kind of how school safety was from the late nineties into the early two thousands was if you shut the blinds and you turn off the lights, that guy can't see or hear you.

And we know that's ridiculous.

You know, that doesn't solve anything.

So coming through, being able to go through national trainings on how do you develop a school safety plan that's outside of the typical fire drill, tornado, earthquake, and to encompass an overall arching fear of safety that can cover multiple aspects, including those things.

So it's really changed to, instead of just response to proactive and preventative.

What can you do to reach kids before something happens or to be a positive influence and presence on campus for those people?

- Does every school district in Wyoming have an SRO?

- I don't believe so.

I don't know the stats there.

There are several rural communities I know that may not have one.

Here in Fremont County, we're very fortunate that even in some of our rural schools, including on the reservation, Shoshoni, Dubois and Wind River school districts all have SROs.

- [Steve] If a school district that did not have an SRO wanted to start it, what would that district do?

- Reach out to your local law enforcement, whether it's your sheriff or chief.

You can contact our association.

We've helped develop a couple programs around the area.

We've met with school boards as our board members from Wise Row and just go over this is how it looks in my school, these are the functions we do, this is what we bring to the table, this is how to get something started.

- So I believe in the past when the SROs first.. school resource officers first started getting put in the schools, they were putting maybe some of the older officers, ones getting ready to retire into the schools to maybe get 'em out of patrol a little bit and say, Hey, let's let 'em finish out their career there as an easy job.

I think they soon found out that being an SRO is not an easy job, especially if you're doing the job correctly and you're doing what you need to do.

So you're seeing more and more individuals because the protection of our kids is the most important thing we can do.

So we have to have that training, not just with tactically, but with mental health, with law related education.

So, I've taught military science, we do military science class, Charlie Marshall and Riverton does a intro to law class, so being able to get in the classroom as well and doing that education part of that is so important.

Cause if you look at the triad, which is a National Association of School Resource Officers, which we're partnered with, of course your law enforcement officer, but it's also informal counseling and education.

And if we're doing those two bottom parts, the counseling, the education, then we don't have to do that top tier of that as far as law enforcement part.

- So if there was something that was going on with them, whether it may be something at home that's personal or something that they're doing that they shouldn't be doing, you're able to recognize that stuff and kind of helps you in your job and get in there and either help 'em or figure out what's going on and try to ultimately figure out, you know, is this something that's happening at home?

Is it something that they're bringing in the schools that they're partaking in?

Stuff like that.

- So part of this recognition of behavior and what might be causing it, it's not simply so that you can crack down on someone, it's so that you can play a different role.

- Correct, correct.

Yeah.

One of the big things is, I mean, kids, I mean, they have a lot of troubles, they have a lot of stuff that's going on in life.

- Because we're not there to criminalize kids, we don't want to go in there and just start citing everybody and you know, we want to be able to make those relationships say, Hey, you made a mistake, you made a poor choice, now you stubbed your toe, what are we gonna do next?

Let's get over it.

There's consequences so let's do what we need to do, have some ownership and let's move on.

So that's kind of that big part of that I think is that relationship.

When you have an SRO in there that's starting to, you know, you're with the brother and then the siblings and I've got kids who I took to Camp Postcard years ago whose mother came back to me and said, my kid's going to camp.

- That's why it's beneficial for officers to stay in these positions for years and years and years so that you have built up that trust within the community and the kids from elementary all the way up into high school, so they always remember you and they can put that face to that name and go, okay, I know him, I've heard about him, that's somebody that we can trust.

- I'm that old guy now.

You know, so, but it's amazing.

You know, it was a dream of mine to help start this association when I became an SRO years ago.

I said, we need to start a SRO association.

I got involved with the National Association as a region director for them and as an instructor for them.

So going around the country, teaching classes and just, man, I was just so excited and motivated.

It's neat to see younger officers come in with that energy cuz we need that and to see where our association has gone from then today, we're still here.

We've started a scholarship program, we're doing scholarships for graduating seniors, either going into education or law.

So it's a neat deal when you're able to give back, you know, for those kids, those men that stepped into my lives when I needed 'em the most when I was in high school and that's why when I became an SRO, it's what I wanted to do.

It wasn't about being a sergeant or a captain, it's about I want to be a school resource officer.

I want give back these kids, I want to coach and to be able to do those things that you enjoy doing.

It's definitely, you know, you hear all the time, you know, if you find something you love to do, you'll never work a day in your life.

And I don't know if that's necessarily true cuz there's good days and bad days with anything but it's been a good run, yeah.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is made possible in part by the Wyoming Humanities Council, helping Wyoming take a closer look at life through the humanities, thinkwy.org and by the members of the Wyoming PBS Foundation.

Thank you for your support.