Cops On Campus
Today, the nightmare of a school shooting is unfortunately a reality, one that millions of teenagers are at the risk of experiencing. At Paso Robles High School, there are many rules and protections to help prevent this from happening, one of which being our on-campus School Resource Officers. These representatives are equipped to handle a dangerous situation such as a shooting, and there to help everyone on campus.
Here at PRHS, we have three of these officers: Officer Trevor Aguilar, Officer Alexandria Ellis, and Officer Joe Stanley. Daily, these hard-working qualified individuals are patrolling multiple schools around the district to ensure the protection of the thousands of students PRJUSD has.
To become an SRO, it first consists of the six-month long police academy program to become a qualified police officer, then requires additional juvenile-specific training for an SRO position. This is a three-year specialized assignment at a school, dealing with strictly juveniles, so it involves more education to best support the students.
“Our main goal is pretty much visual presence, and interaction with students and staff. We want to make sure that students know that we’re not just police officers, we’re there to help and kind of be seen: we’re just regular people that they interact with,” Aguilar said, describing their daily role on campus.
Due to the recent rise in school shootings nationally, this role has adapted to fit our changing needs. There is a larger focus on protection for students as well as simply being more aware of possible threats coming from social media or other platforms.
In the event of a school shooting, the only people on campus who will be acting against the threat would be these three SRO’s on campus. All admin, students, and teachers follow the ALICE protocol, whether it be evacuating, informing, or countering.
“SRO’s will be the first and only responder on campus until more police officers arrive, they will be facing the attack,”
Assistant Principal Michael Godsey said.
This response towards the threat is exactly why there are certified professionals on campus, to ensure the safety of our entire campus, students and staff alike. During an emergency, the SRO officers will be doing whatever they can to mitigate the threat naturally.
“Our modes and movements change depending on what we hear and what we see on the campus. If there’s active shooting, we’re going towards that active shooting. If there’s not, then we’re in a searching mode to find who it is,” Aguilar stated.
The officers’ focus during a situation is to face the threat head-on and dismantle the attacker, while the rest of the safety staff on campus is strictly tasked with protecting students; they will help them evacuate or get somewhere safe during an attack.
When discussing a topic as serious as this one, the top priority is always going to be prevention. This could be alerting/informing staff to possible threats, or preventing through policies on campus. When our campus is secure inside and outside, it reduces the rate of possible violence towards us. Administration is always looking for how to improve our security on campus, and many policies are put in place to achieve this goal of countering a possible attack.
“They’re [the shooter] not there to target one specific area. Generally, they’re there to inflict mass harm. So if there’s a locked door, they’re not going to spend a ton of time trying to open that door, because one, they know that we’re coming, and two, that’s not achieving their goals,” Aguilar said.
As this issue is so uncertain, but definitely possible, there is always room to grow and learn how to best protect our campus from possible harm, a dedicated mission that many take part in. Having SRO’s on campus is one of the best ways to be prepared in case of an emergency, and these individuals are committed daily to helping make our campus a safer place.