When cops in schools are a good thing

Cedar Rapids Police Officer Jen Roberts reported for duty last week as Jefferson High School's school resource officer.

And on her first day of that assignment, she apprehended an unloaded handgun a student had brought to the school in his backpack.

The timing may have been a coincidence, but the incident illustrates one reason why school resource officers can be a good idea.

We can't hide from public safety issues in our schools. As one Jefferson student recently told a reporter when asked about Roberts' new position: “We have cops here every other day. What's the difference?”

The difference is that dedicated school resource officers offer a consistent presence, familiar faces to help students overcome reluctance to reporting dangerous or criminal activity.

They remind students to act appropriately and offer a safe place for them to report crimes and dangerous activities.

They can, and should, encourage students' responsible, safe behaviors and find teaching moments to help keep students safe inside and outside of school.

Cedar Rapids police Sgt. Cristy Hamblin told us this week that police and school officials have talked about the idea of establishing school resource officers for years, but it was just a matter of committing - and finding the resources to do it.

Jefferson is the first Cedar Rapids high school to get one, Hamblin said, but resource officers would be appropriate in other schools if resources allow.

“It's a chance to show police are not the bad guys,” she said.

That's no small thing, especially at such a vulnerable age.

Students are much more likely to share information with a trusted adult - a teacher or police officer they know, for example - than to call the police station to make a report.

Hamblin said, and we'd agree, that most high school students know right from wrong, and they want to do something to stop criminal and dangerous behaviors.

But peer pressure and other factors make students reluctant to report what they know. A school resource officer provides a safe and convenient way to overcome those obstacles.

That's what police say happened last week when a Jefferson student told Associate Principal Chad Szabo that a fellow student had a handgun in his backpack.

Szabo passed the information along to police, and Roberts arrested the student on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon.

As Roberts gets to know the school and increases rapport with students, it's likely more will feel comfortable reporting such incidents to her directly. That will help keep students safer in tangible, immediate ways.

And the relationships she builds with students now should go a long way toward helping students in the long term, too.