History of the School Resource Officer Program

In 1942, a group of San Francisco Police Officers decided to work directly with youth in the San Francisco Elementary, Middle and High Schools. At that time the goal was to educate youth about drugs as well as various gateway drugs. This program was a particularly great success in 1996 when the San Francisco Police Department officers program was formally founded. The School Resource Officer Program evolved from more detailed community policing concepts. This program allows police officers to interact directly with students in a real communities to help them improve themselves where there is a need. The program is recognized as a national model by both the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the Department of Justice.

Before the program's beginning, criminal statistics in California revealed that juvenile violent crimes were increasing. In an effort to combat this problem, the Juvenile Division, under the leadership of Captain James I. Dudley, sought additional government funding. These funds were specifically designated for youth services. A grant was later approved for the School Resource Officers Program. With these funds we have allocated two San Francisco Police Officers to serve at each of the seventeen public Middle Schools within the San Francisco Unified School District.

Members of the School Resource Officer Program brainstormed about goals, philosophy and on a mission statement, but the greatest challenge and desire was to enhance our communication and interactive skills with the youth of San Francisco. We are achieving these goals by taking the community's youth on various outings, such as: kiyaking, hiking, sailing, backpacking, and fishing trips. As School Resource Officers, we strive toward modeling citizenship and how people should react in various situations. In the future, we hope that the young adults we have contact with will have received positive messages that can make a difference in their lives. We also recognize the importance of our collaboration with the San Francisco Unified School District to ensure that school safety is paramount for our youth, administrators and teachers. The third criterion to ensure the success of this program was to formulate interactions and collaborations with families and communities. The success of the School Safety Plan requires a working partnership between our youth, their schools, their families, community based organizations and law enforcement.

As School Resource Officers, commonly referred to as SRO's, we realize that we serve as a role models to our youth at all times. We are in the schools not only to intervene when conflicts arise but, also to serve as a counselors and a big brothers or sisters for young people.

We also identify with the fact that drugs; gangs and hate crimes have deteriorated many basic values. Bearing this in mind, and upon request, we also provide the Law Related Education (LRE) curriculum on these and other pertinent topics. Each School Resource Officers undergoes a 40-hour P.O.S.T. certified curriculum. As the lead Training Officer for the School Resource Officer Course, the contents include communication skills, developing and presenting lesson plans, conflict mediation skills, peer counseling techniques, and juvenile law updates. We are here to support you and your family with as many community based services and resources that are readily available within the various communities of San Francisco.

We hope that you continue to support this effective, innovative and exciting program. If you get a chance, please stop by any of the seventeen Middle Schools in the city and let us know how we are doing. Feel free to offer suggestions because, we need and welcome your input. We must all remember the concept of each one must teach one. It is crucial that we each continue to remind our youth that we love, support and are willing to guide each of them and that inappropriate decisions can result in serious consequences.

Please check out our web site again at a later date. Let us know how we are doing. Please advise us if you have any additional suggestions for enhancement of the SRO Web Site to y.williams@comcast.net.

Sincerely,
Officer Yulanda D.A. Williams, M.I.
P.O.S.T. Certified Master Instructor,
School Resource Officer Training Program

 

• Goal #1- To improve community relationships and participate with students, parents, staff, and community within the educational process.
  
  
• Goal #2- To help maintain school environments that are safe, secure, and attractive to the student's desire to learn.
  
  
• Goal #3- To facilitate positive collabotation and communication skills between law enforcement officers and students.
  
  
• Goal #4- To serve as Mentors by our presence as well as by our personal self- esteem.
  
  
• Goal #5- To teach students to be a critical thinkers, problem solvers, and an effective communicators.
  
  
• Goal #6- To enhance the learning environment by teaching a Law Related Education curriculum as an example.

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