Meet Four PORAC Members Dedicated to Protecting, Educating and Mentoring Young People
February 15 is National School Resource Officer Appreciation Day, an opportunity to recognize the invaluable work of the peace officers devoted to protecting students, schools and their surrounding communities. SROs not only promote campus safety, address crime and respond to emergencies, but also serve as positive role models and mentors who educate young people on crime prevention, drug awareness, conflict resolution and more.
With the rise in school shootings, as well as other ongoing safety concerns such as bullying, harassment and narcotics, this specialized area of law enforcement plays a vital part in promoting a safe environment for learners and educators and giving parents peace of mind. Yet in recent years their role has been scrutinized, debated and often misunderstood, with a vocal minority calling on districts to limit the powers of school police or even remove them from campuses entirely. PORAC has steadfastly worked to debunk these myths, highlight the value of SROs and advocate for the training, staffing, equipment and funding they need to keep kids safe.
These versatile and committed professionals deserve to be applauded and supported every day for the incredible jobs they do. In appreciation of SROs, we invited four PORAC members to share their experiences and perspectives on what it’s like to serve in this uniquely challenging and rewarding profession.
Making Connections
San Diego Unified School District Police Officer Caleb Arnold says his biggest responsibility is making positive connections with staff and students. “SROs are important because they create relationships on their campus that would not happen if you were just coming to school for a radio call,” he explains. “It creates trust, especially with the students, because it is a chance to make sure these kids don’t see police officers in a negative light. The kids see us not as someone that is coming to arrest them, but someone that is coming to help and mentor them.”
A campus supervisor in local high schools before entering law enforcement, Arnold was pleased to combine his new profession with his enthusiasm for working with juveniles by becoming an SRO. The 17-year veteran is also dedicated to strengthening bonds among colleagues as a labor leader, having served as patrol rep, treasurer and now president of the San Diego Schools Police Officers Association, as well as being the San Diego/Imperial County Chapter director for PORAC. “It was such an honor to be elected by my peers to represent them in a leadership role in our union,” he says. “It definitely keeps me on my toes and keeps me really busy, but it’s been a very big passion of mine, to make sure our officers are treated fairly.”
Arnold notes that one of the biggest challenges for SROs is “not having the updated equipment that our local municipalities have. Due to my department being its own entity, sometimes the funds are just not there. You overcome those challenges by just working with what you’ve got and moving forward to make sure our school and our communities are safe.”
A broader challenge has been the public misconceptions surrounding school police. “Some people think we are just on the campus to enforce laws,” he says. “In fact, that is a very small percentage of what I do. The bulk of my day is spent sitting down with my school administrators to talk about what issues they have and how I can help. I help a lot of students in mental health crises and get them the help they need. Also, just being a listening ear for them, so these students know they are being heard.” Asked what he would like everyone to know about SROs, he replies, “I really want people to understand that being on these campuses really helps police–community relations. SROs not only are there to create a safe working environment, but lots of them become coaches and mentors outside of their police duties. The relationships we build are relationships that last a lifetime.”
Making a difference through those relationships is the job’s greatest reward, Arnold shares: “What really makes me feel appreciated is when a former or current student or their parent comes up to me and tells me I had a positive impact on their life. That really does feel like I am living my purpose in the career choice that I have made … I am blessed to be a part of something that is bigger than myself.”
Here to Help
Shafter Senior Police Officer Rachel Ozaeta has been in law enforcement since 2006, but didn’t transition to school policing until after joining her current department in 2021. “I’m a mom and I love community engagement, so getting the opportunity to work with kids and families seemed like an easy choice,” she says. “Shafter is a tight-knit community. They’ve always been super supportive of law enforcement, and I thought it would be my opportunity to give back and build relationships with the kids that will one day be the leaders of the community.”
Assigned to the Richland School District, where she oversees three elementary schools and one junior high, Ozaeta faces the challenge of dividing her efforts among four campuses and ensuring everyone feels supported. “While one school can have a smooth day, it can be complete chaos at another,” she says. “Short of an emergency, I have dedicated days to each school site so that any issues that need to be addressed are handled in a timely fashion. Fortunately, I have a good working relationship with my school site administrators and they understand that I may be needed somewhere else at any given time.”
Despite serving multiple locations, Ozaeta prides herself on forging strong relationships. “I have students that see me and come up to me to tell me how they’re doing in their academics, improvements they’ve made and goals for their future. It makes me feel proud of them and important that they felt I was important enough to tell,” she says. Ozaeta shares that she’s been fortunate to benefit from the guidance of mentors herself, including a former SRO who passed away unexpectedly several months ago. “Although he is no longer here, I hope to make him proud,” she says. Now she’s working to pay it forward, not only through her work with students, but also as part of Latina Leaders of Kern County, where she mentors high school girls in essential leadership and advocacy skills with the goal of empowering them to create fundamental change in their community.
Through these efforts, Ozaeta strives to show young people that police officers are here to help them. Even when it comes time to deal with negative behaviors, she does so with understanding and a focus on the root causes. For instance, when addressing truancy as part of the School Attendance Review Board, she says, “The goal is to see if there is a valid reason for the truancy and offer resources to help ensure our students are on time and at school every day.” In the course of her job, she’s learned that most students are products of their environment. “Most of the time, if not all of the time, there is something going on at home. Absent parents, incarcerated parents, loss of close loved ones are all circumstances that play a big role in many of the behaviors I see. Not every student that makes poor choices does so out of deliberate intention to behave negatively; it’s what they’ve learned or it’s what gets them the attention they are longing for.”
Ozaeta says one major misconception about SROs is that they’re there to enforce school rules, an idea she actively tries to dispel by building trust. “I’ve made an effort to be a part of school functions such as recess, awards ceremonies and graduations,” she says. “I am present at the beginning and end of their day to greet them, so my presence is a normal part of their day.” Her greatest reward comes when people are happy to see her. “I’ve had parents say, ‘I wish you were here every day.’ I’ve seen students off campus at community events who say, ‘Hey, I know you, you’re my cop.’ It makes me laugh, but they’re right. I am ‘their cop’ and I’m at their school to support them whenever they need it.”
A Positive Presence
Clearlake Police Officer Christopher Perry’s mission to support and mentor the next generation is deeply motivated by his own past experience. “Coming from a broken home where substance abuse and poverty were constant struggles, I understand the feelings of uncertainty and the need for stability that many kids face,” he explains. Perry started his law enforcement career as a patrol officer for the San Diego Police Department in 2019 before taking the opportunity to return to his Northern California hometown and become an SRO. “This role gives me the unique opportunity to connect with kids on a personal level, to listen to them and to be a consistent presence in their lives,” he says. “I want them to know that their circumstances don’t define their potential and that they have someone in their corner who genuinely cares. For me, becoming an SRO wasn’t just a career decision, it was a calling to invest in the future of my community and to provide the hope and encouragement that every child deserves.”
Perry says it takes caring, patience, good communication, the ability to stay calm under pressure, empathy and flexibility to successfully navigate the manifold challenges of an SRO’s role. In addition to the difficult tasks of building trust with students and dealing with their complex emotional and behavioral struggles — including mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and trauma — the priorities of the job are multifaceted and always shifting. “Some days I’m playing the role of authority figure; other days I’m just trying to listen and offer guidance,” he says. “It’s a delicate balance, and sometimes I feel like I’m walking a fine line.” Add in the high expectations of parents and staff who sometimes expect SROs to fix everything or tackle issues beyond their expertise, and “it’s easy to feel pulled in a million different directions. I’ve had to learn to communicate clearly and set boundaries … managing expectations and being realistic about what I can do,” Perry says, adding that in such an emotionally charged setting, the risk of burnout is real. “I’ve learned to take breaks when I need them, lean on other officers for support and focus on the small wins, when a kid comes to me for help or when I see positive changes in a student’s behavior. At the end of the day, it’s about remembering why I’m there and that even small progress can make a big difference.”
Seeing that difference makes it all worth it for Perry, “whether it’s a student who was heading down a rough path but starts to make better choices, or when a student who was initially disengaged begins to open up and trust the people around them.” He recalls that one student whom he helped get out of a toxic living situation emailed him a heartfelt thank-you a year later, sharing that “since that day, she’s been reflecting on the question ‘What would Officer Perry do?’ as a way to guide her decisions, which has helped her stay on a better path.”
Perry’s joy in seeing students thrive counteracts the all-too-common myth that SROs are “just there to punish kids or treat schools like they’re crime scenes.” As he says, “We’re not there to criminalize kids for making mistakes, we’re there to guide them and help prevent issues from escalating into something more serious. Another misconception is that SROs don’t belong in schools or that our presence intimidates students. While I understand why some people feel that way, the reality is often the opposite. Most of the time, students see me as someone they can trust and come to for help, not just someone looking to catch them doing something wrong. My goal is to show students that law enforcement can be approachable, compassionate and invested in their success…. It’s about creating an environment where they feel protected, supported and empowered to succeed, not just in school, but in life.”
Ambassador for Education
For Bakersfield Police Officer Charles Pratt, becoming an SRO was always the goal. “Being present and proactively involved with the youth is my passion,” says the 10-year veteran, who’s served in schools for eight years as well as being a cadet advisor and one of the founding members of his agency’s Youth Diversion program. “I wanted to be a positive influence in the lives of the juveniles in my community.”
Since Bakersfield schools have their own agency dedicated to high school policing (the Kern High School District Police Department), Bakersfield P.D.’s SROs work exclusively with elementary and middle school students and are contracted by school districts within the city. Their duties vary widely, from addressing attendance issues and making home visits with social workers to handling bullying concerns, conducting traffic enforcement around school sites, attending school assemblies and carnivals, and more.
Pratt says the job requires not only a passion for working with youth and their families, but also the ability to work with the administration and district and above all, a willingness “to be an ambassador and advocate for education.” As a member of his department’s peer support team, an instructor for over five learning domains in the academy, a member of the recruitment team and a doctoral student in clinical psychology, his own dedication to learning and teaching is clear. Pratt’s experiences working with youngsters even inspired him to write and publish a children’s book, Excuse Me I Have a Question, to address their curiosity about police officers and show the positive side of law enforcement.
Among the many challenges of being an SRO, Pratt cites dealing with volatile and absentee parents and the daunting task of stepping into the role of mentor for young people who may not have other positive role models in their lives. Additionally, he says, “most people do not know exactly what we do, so their assumptions lead down a negative path.” That lack of understanding has contributed to many municipalities eliminating SROs or reducing their funding and numbers. Pratt has actively worked against such trends in his own city, making a presentation to district administration during a board meeting when they were considering cutting the SRO program. He successfully argued that removing SROs would be detrimental to the administration, staff and students, pointing out that these officers serve as a nexus between the district and families, addressing social and economic barriers as well as preventing and intervening in criminal behavior, gang activity and attendance issues. “Ultimately they did not cut the program but got more funding and we added more officers,” he reports.
Like other SROs, Pratt actively works to combat the misconception that “we are arresting and fighting with a bunch of kids when that is not the case. If more people understood that we are advocates for the kids, then it may make the job more easier.” Fortunately, the thousands of students he’s worked with have a better idea of the true value of a good SRO. “Over the years I have been invited to birthday parties, graduations, band concerts, etc.,” he says. “Being included in the lives of the students makes me feel appreciated.”