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West Valley City • Roughly 40 school resource officers from the Granite Police Department and neighboring agencies are being trained this week on the need to mentor and support students.
The training, held between Tuesday and Friday at Granger High School, is new for Granite School District and focuses on applying community policing tactics to school campuses, according to Doug Larson, Granite's director of policy and legal services.
"Oftentimes, their role has just been a badge and a gun inside a school," Larson said. "We want our police officers to work with students — to gain the trust of students and be able to keep our schools safe."
Larson said resource officers are an integral part of schools. But in addition to a discipline and enforcement role, he said, officers can build relationships with students that support learning while maintaining security.
"It allows them to be able to prevent problems," he said. "To work with kids before problems arise and to be a resource for kids."
Thursday's training consisted of presentations by Don Shomette, a former school resource officer and CEO of The Shomette Group.
Subjects included proper conduct with students, like avoiding talk of politics or inappropriate comments, and the need for police departments and school administrators to collaborate.
"We work for nothing but the benefit of the people," Shomette said. "They work for nothing but the benefit of their students."
Shomette also encouraged officers to exercise restraint when asked by school administrators to intervene in disciplinary issues.
Minor classroom and school disruptions are best dealt with by educators, he said, without the escalation of a police presence.
"If the superintendent is pushing you or an administrator is pushing you, and you don't feel it's the best thing," he said, "I would not do it."
When in doubt, Shomette said, resource officers should ask themselves if they would involve the police for a similar issue involving their own children.
"Chances are you're coming up with a better plan if you're thinking of them as your kids," he said.
Granite Police Department Sgt. John Lake said resource officers are focused on ensuring a safe campus for students, teachers and community members.
But that focus on safety is a component of a school's primary purpose of providing learning environments for children, he said.
"Developing those relationships with students and helping them receive their education here at school is really their goal," he said.
The training included all of Granite School District's resource officers, Lake said, as well as patrol officers with Granite Police Department and other agencies.
He said skills related to the mentoring and support of students are valuable to all officers, whether or not they are assigned to school campuses.
"Our officers are responding to calls at schools," he said. "In dealing with those calls they're dealing with the student."
Twitter: @bjaminwood