The Fine Art of Policing 12-Year-Olds

Brian Elder is a sworn officer of the El Cerrito Police Department. But his current assignment is a bit different than that of most of his fellow officers. His beat is Portola Middle School, which means most of the people he’s policing are 12- and 13-year-olds. It’s an assignment that requires more, not less, training.

Certification as a school resource officer requires an additional 40 hours of class beyond the regular police training. The training covers issues such as laws related to school campuses, drugs and alcohol at school, and communicating with students, parents and educators. Because of their special relationship with the schools, resource officers are afforded greater leeway, primarily in search and seizure and in contacting and detaining students.

Elder is one of three school resource officers who are part of the El Cerrito force but funded through the West Contra Costa Unified School District. An El Cerrito officer was first assigned to El Cerrito High in November. 2005, according to the police department’s website. A second officer was later added at the high school. Elder has been at Portola for more than two years. The officers currently assigned to the high school are Jeff Albrandt and Ed Jacala.

There was talk of cutting the program from the school district budget for the coming school year. It was ultimately but its future beyond that remains uncertain.

 “It’s made a huge difference,” Charles Ramsey, president of the school board, said of the arrangement to have the police departments of each of the local cities, plus the sheriff’s department for the unincorporated areas, provide campus officers. Ramsey said the program has resulted in a more relaxed, secure environment on the campuses.

“The statistics support it," he said. "There’s better reporting, better administration, better city support, dispatch is better. I think everybody is pleased.”

While Ramsey said safe schools are "a priority for everyone,” the school district’s funding in coming years is highly uncertain. The district relied heavily on one-time funds to balance the budget for the coming school year.  

The budget adopted by the school district for 2011-12 includes $420,000 for the three officers in El Cerrito; $320,000 to pay for two officers in Pinole, with a third paid for by the city; $160,000 to pay for an officer in Hercules with a second financed by that city; $876,000 to pay for six officers in Richmond with another paid for by the city; and $193,000 to pay for an officer through the Contra Costa Sheriff’s Department. Both officers in San Pablo are funded by the city.

The total cost to the school district is close to $2 million. It covers costs such as vehicles and other equipment, training and administration in addition to the officers’ salary and benefits. (The attached table shows  funding allocations for school resource officers in the district.)

Ramsey said the school district approached the cities to contribute to the cost of the school resource officers and that El Cerrito is the only city not doing so.

Elder agrees that the school resource officer program has made a dramatic difference but said the job is not for everyone.

“The number one issue, for being a SRO, you really have to have the mentality for it,” Elder said. While officers are trained to be cautious about having people around them, particularly behind them, he said, you don’t have that luxury on a campus surrounded by middle school students. “They want to run up to you, ask about your gun, poke you. It’s a different mentality. Not everyone is cut out for that.”

Spending time on campus regularly, he knows what to expect. To someone coming onto campus during lunch, he said, “It might sound like a riot. But that’s absolutely normal.”

As an officer working on a school campus, his time is skewed heavily toward detecting problems and defusing them before a crime ever occurs. It’s not uncommon for him to spend time herding students into class who linger after the bell has rung. He’s gotten to know that trouble may be brewing simply by what students he is seeing together.

A lot of his work, he said, is mediating and counseling. It’s often interpersonal conflicts that lead to fights or kids getting jumped, so it pays to help students resolve those problems before they result in a crime.

He might find himself telling the parent of a student, “I see some real big issues in his future” if he doesn’t make changes, then talking about how the school, police and parents can work together to turn things around.

Elder said a sure sign that the program is having an impact, aiding a more manageable facility, is the decrease in his paperwork since the . The most common crimes on the school campus, he said, are simple assault, petty theft and possession of drugs or alcohol.

He works four 10-hour days, with other patrol officers checking in on the campus on the weekday he’s off. He usually begins his work day by checking the routes commonly taken by students to the campus and providing a presence as students arrive for school. Just his being there tends to put drivers on their best behavior, making it easier for kids to get to school safely.

Similarly, when the school day is over he continues to monitor the students as they head home. He also often responds to calls off campus that involve juveniles. Because of his training and experience, he said, victims or suspects might offer information they otherwise wouldn’t share.

Elder said the school resource officers work closely with the school administrators. Each has his or her own responsibilities but keep one another informed. Even problems with students off campus are reported back to the school staff.

Having an officer on campus eliminates concerns that existed before the joint agreement that crimes weren’t always reported accurately and quickly, if at all, to the police department. Elder said having officers on campus takes the responsibility off administrators of figuring out what constitutes a crime. And if the officers ever need support, back-up from their own department is a call away.

For parents, he said, the program provides a sense of security that when they drop off their children they’ll be safe, and the students themselves feel safer as well. Students have an opportunity for positive and informal contact with police, and parents as well may become more comfortable interacting with officers. Elder said some have even contacted him after their children are out of the school for advice.

Even the kids who are doing something wrong, he said, are better off seeing the consequences of their actions, whether it’s an arrest or having him talk to them about the choices they made.

“Kids get to see cause and effect of their actions, that they will be held accountable for their behavior. I can provide them with a practical look at right and wrong.” If a problem doesn’t get addressed, he said, “One kid is not going to feel safe at school, and the other kid does not see the consequences of their actions.”

Officers from El Cerrito, as well as the other agencies under contract with the school district, do occasional truancy sweeps, in an effort to keep the students out of trouble as well as improve attendance. Elder said all of the West County jurisdictions have enacted school-hour curfews that make combating truancy easier.

This summer, Elder and Jacala, one of the El Cerrito High officers, are working summer school at Portola. The officers also take their vacations during the summer, do any training at that time, and do other patrol work in the department.

Elder said the school resource officers are well known in the community and it’s not uncommon to have someone call out his name even when he’s off campus. He could be in his current position for up to three more years but ultimately will be moved to another position in keeping with department policy. It strengthens the force, he said, to have officers with a variety of special training. And because of his daily contact with students, he expects to remain “highly identifiable for years to come.”