The Dublin Police Department’s School Resource Officers (SROs) work diligently to protect our school, so it is time to recognize their efforts. Dublin PD SROs help protect and keep Dublin schools safe. They have many other responsibilities throughout the district, such as teaching DARE lessons to the 8th graders in all three middle schools, training teachers on handling emergencies, and investigating any crimes or disturbances on the district’s fourteen school campuses. They also handle emergencies on school campuses around Dublin, including Fallon.
Dublin has four School Resource Officers who work together to cover all of the schools in the district. The four officers take turns handing call-outs to campuses to answer calls for service or follow up on investigations. In the case of an emergency, calls are assigned to a specific officer(s), based on availability, to ensure that the emergency response is handled immediately. One of Dublin’s SROs, Officer Leah Greenbaum, provides an example of an emergency she experienced, “A bomb threat…everybody’s evacuating the school…and it was what we call unfounded.” Sometimes, emergencies can be unfounded, which means no evidence was found confirming any genuine bomb threat. In other words, the threat was a hoax.
The SRO job is a specialty assignment within the department, which requires officers to attend many weeks of professional training. The assignment isn’t for everyone, as it has its challenges. SROs deal primarily with juveniles, which can be harder to handle than calls regarding adults who have felonies. With juveniles, they have to be more cautious and explore options that are not usually offered to adults. SROs can use resources such as setting juvenile offenders up with counseling or therapy programs instead of formally arresting them. Working with families of first-time offenders can sometimes be the best way to solve the problem. SROs also work with detectives to investigate cases where juveniles are the victim of a crime, such as child abuse or sex crimes. Officer Greenbalm explains, “We try to kind of counsel and find different ways to solve the problem. So it is a bit harder.” This can be difficult for some officers, but for Officer Greenbalm, it’s her dream job, as she explained in an interview at Fallon.
SROs work hard daily, with their workdays expected to be ten hours per day, four days a week. They work about two hours less than patrol officers, who often work twelve-hour shifts.
So, how do SROs handle an emergency call at one of Dublin’s schools? If an emergency call comes in, the police dispatcher gets all the information and dispatches the appropriate officers over the radio. When dispatched, the officers will get the initial information about the emergency, and the complete information will be available on the computer in their patrol car. Officers respond with code three, which means lights and sirens. Once the officers get to the emergency site, they will respond to it according to the type of emergency. For example, the officers would start setting up a perimeter around the school if it were a threat. After the perimeters are safely set, officers will split up to cover all parts of the school to ensure that nobody enters the school. If the threat is serious, officers would advise the school administration that evacuation of the school is necessary, and evacuation procedures would begin.
Moving on from emergencies, how is life in the police department? Is it similar to crime TV shows like Brooklyn 99? Unsurprisingly, it’s not exactly like it. Although the police officers have close bonds forged over years of working together, they don’t all get to hang out at the station like many police shows depict. They do have fun, though, and get along very well!
Does becoming an SRO sound like it might be for you? If so, Officer Greenbaum has shared her experience as an SRO officer. First, SROs must undergo six months of training at the Police Academy. When they have the stamp of approval that declares their training finished, they start to work in the jail and guard the prisoners (if they are employed by a Sheriff’s Department – Dublin Police Officers are Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies). After finishing their jail duty, they move to the patrol division. After a certain period, officers can apply for special assignments, such as being an SRO. Once an SRO, officers go to the schools and meet the school’s staff. Sometimes, kids approach them and say hi, which is part of her job that Officer Greenbaum enjoys. According to the officer, “Having the kids come up to you and ask you for stickers or ask you [anything else]” is an enjoyable part of her day since it makes her feel like the students appreciate her. The kids encourage her to work harder, adding another layer of protection to the school.
Police SROs enjoy their jobs and love the people they work with. However, their job can be difficult, as they have to contact juveniles who have either done something wrong or are the victim of a crime. Either way, it can be emotionally draining because there’s usually more to it than what’s on the surface. It takes a particular type of police officer to go through the many layers with a student, find the reasons for their behavior, and find creative ways to address the problem with the student’s best interests in mind. Thank you so much to the Dublin SROs for keeping our schools safe!
If you or someone you know has personally seen or experienced something suspicious, it is important to contact the police department. In these situations, you are encouraged to go to the office and ask them to contact the SROs for you or have your teacher contact the officers. It’s crucial to remember that you should feel comfortable talking with the teachers and officers, so make sure you tell someone you trust. However, if you are stuck in a situation where you can’t escape, the best option is to call 911 and let the dispatchers know what the problem is so that you can get help immediately.
