New school resource officers assigned to DSUSD schools

The Indio Police Dept. shared on social media that they have a few new officers assigned to their School Resource Officer unit this year.

They are welcoming the following officers to the program for the 2021-2022 school year:

Officer A. Plata - assigned to Amistad High School.

Officer J. Romero - assigned to Shadow Hills High School and Desert Ridge Academy.

Officer N. Herington - assigned to Thomas Jefferson Middle, Indio Middle, Wilson Middle and John Glenn Middle Schools.

Officer F. Escalante - assigned to Indio High School.

“The partnerships are good. And it’s proven. Being the biggest city and having 23 schools in our city...it’s important to have that dedication and partnership," said Benjamin Guitron, Indio Police Dept.

Guitron says school resource officers have been around for decades. It’s a five-year job with two purposes: 

“The primary job is obviously safety. Safety for the students, the faculty, the guests and parents and anyone who interacts at the school site," he said.

And secondly: “Doing mentorship, speaking, deterring the use of drugs or alcohol,” he said.  

It’s a contrast to what’s happening in Palm Springs Unified School District where students began this school year without full-time police officers. They temporarily pulled from their posts in four city high schools amid concerns about the disciplinary roles they were playing.

Guitron says the DSUSD armed officers go through rigorous training -- adding many of the officers grew up and graduated from Indio schools themselves, giving them a unique opportunity to connect with local students.

“A lot of our SROs have provided lesson plans, drug and alcohol awareness, what it means to be a part of a family growing up here in the city of Indio," said Gabriel Fajardo, Principal, Shadow Hills High School.

Fajardo says he’s seen the benefit of the officers firsthand -- from the relationships formed with students to the security they provide in the event of an emergency.

“We’ve had a great opportunity to set up emergency disaster drills here and go through what an active assailant might look like or what a lockdown with an introducer would look like," he said.

The Student Resource Officer program is funded half by the city and half by the school district.