GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Following the officer involved shooting at Oshkosh West High School earlier this week the spotlight is on area school resource officers and what it is they actually do.
Lt. Keith Gering of the Green Bay Police department is in charge of the department’s School Resource Officer program. He says they’re more than just security guards.
“They’re there obviously for security, [but also] to build relationships with the students,” Gering told WTAQ. “They work with teachers and administrators. They’re like advisors on law…”
The Green Bay Police department operates 11 school resource officers throughout local schools.
“They split time between the schools,” Gering said. “We’re working on getting that school coverage in all of the schools with what we have available.”
There’s a lot of ground to cover. 43 schools in the Green Bay Area School District are visited by SROs every single school day. Green Bay has been operating their SRO program since the 80s.
The current social climate is something school resource officers have to take into account. Gering says that SROs constantly train for scenarios like the one that occurred at Oshkosh West.
“It’s the day we live in. It’s the world we live in today, unfortunately,” Gering said. “But we look at that and try to prepare ourselves as best as we can.”
