When a school resource officer (SRO) gets to know a school well, including its day-to-day rhythm and the normal behaviors of its students, the officer can spot suspicious activity quickly and thus help keep the campus safe. That’s exactly what happened in a South Dakota alternative high school in November 2022.
At the beginning of a school day, before any classes had begun, SRO Garrett Loen of the Rapid City Police Department noticed a student hanging out in a part of the building where he knew no classroom was active and where the school prohibited loitering. Loen watched as the student then walked to the third floor and meet a group of other students. They all then entered a restroom together, which is also atypical behavior. It was a restroom where Loen knew students had previously vaped tobacco and THC, the principal psychoactive chemical in cannabis.
“When I entered the restroom, I saw additional suspicious behavior,” Loen told NASRO. “Two students were huddled close together at a single urinal and another who was near them ran into a stall that was already occupied. The two at the urinal looked as if they were exchanging something but I didn’t see what it might have been.”
Loen asked all four students to walk with him to the administrative office. They complied. When they got to the office, the SRO turned them over to administrators. He stood by and watched as an administrator discovered that one of the students possessed drug paraphernalia. At that point, the administrator asked Loen to step in.
The SRO placed the 15-year-old student under arrest. He requested the teen’s cooperation with a legal search associated with the arrest, but the student declined to cooperate and requested the presence of a parent.
“The mother arrived and began to contest the search and elevate the situation, which led me to request assistance from other officers,” Loen explained.
While responding officers stayed with the suspect, Loen led the mother to a separate room where he explained the situation and helped her understand and agree that the officers had legal grounds to search her son. The mother and the student's grandparent, who had since arrived, both joined the student in the other office.
“With their assistance, I was able to convince the student to cooperate with the search,” Loen said.
The teen lifted his shirt and revealed a stolen, semiautomatic handgun with an extended magazine.
“The family members were astonished,” Loen remarked.
An officer transported the boy to a juvenile detention center.
The SRO said he knew of the student but didn’t know him well. Loen suspected the teen might have been involved in some drug use but did not anticipate him bringing a gun to school.
Loen is convinced that his presence at the alternative school and his positive relationships with students, faculty, staff members and administrators are invaluable.
“We work really well together as a team,” the SRO said. “On a daily basis, we exchange information about what we’re noticing about students’ behaviors.”
Improving school safety is far from the only benefit of the SRO program.
“My relationship with students can have a significant impact in how they behave if they encounter my colleagues on patrol,” Loen explained.
Do you have a similar SRO success story? If so, contact NASRO PIO Jay Farlow, [email protected].