Waukesha is getting more School Resource Officers as a way to keep students safer. Officer Jason Trimborn is one of four.
He's been with Waukesha Police for almost ten years, but he's just two weeks into his role as the School Resource Officer at Waukesha West High School. He is already a familiar face to students.
"Knowing that there's a police officer in our school, that's first of all, I know that I'm much safer," said Megan Bean, senior.
"It's nice to have him around just to feel safe and knowing that he's somewhere nearby," said Derek Thompson, junior.
"A safety net between me and the other kids instead of a free for all," said Jack Simons, senior.
The SRO's main job is to keep students, teachers and faculty safe.
"I think there's a level of training that needs to be constantly evolving because school safety is important and school violence isn't going away anytime soon," said Trimborn.
Trimborn went to Bethesda Elementary School, Butler Middle School, and Waukesha West High School. He said now it's his turn to give back.
"Give them the sense of safety, stability, security that comes with having an officer there to be the first line of defense to anything bad that can happen at the school," said Trimborn.
All three high school's have a designated officer. For now, the three middle school's share one. Another SRO will be added in January and sixth in August allowing every middle school to have their own officer.
Captain Dan Baumann said more SRO's help other Waukesha Officer's with the department's call volume.
"We don't want to take officers off the road that are reducing crime, fear and disorder in a community..... To pull them off the road to address school related problems that are typically longer in nature because it's something that we're going to not just handle and move on to we want to really triage and handle that problem to prevent it from happening again," said Baumann.
SRO's also work to build relationships with students.
"Studies show that the use of force involved in police interactions specifically in an academic environment are significantly reduced when you have somebody that is dealing with somebody in crisis," said Baumann.
The district and city share the cost of the SRO's.
"It's all in the interest of keeping the kids safe so they can study," said Baumann.
"Kids are more prepared and the school can be even safer," said Trimborn.
Officers are also spending time in elementary schools and early learning centers through the Adopt a School Program. Patrol Officers visit with students during lunch, recess and gym to make sure students are aware of police officers and what they do.
Another way police are working with the school's is through the Handle With Care Program. If a patrol officer runs into a child in some sort of traumatic or crisis situation they will alert the SRO or the district making them aware.
"It's not going to be very detailed. It could just say there was a domestic situation, there's a mental health crisis," said Baumann.
In addition, the district is working with law enforcement for a Career Exploration Program. High School students have the opportunity to spend eight weeks with police and eight weeks with the fire department learning what they do. Students get credit for the program.
