School Resource Officer
Four School Resource Officers (SROs) are assigned to our two high schools and four middle schools. They are also responsible for the elementary schools that feed into their respective middle schools. They provide police services including, but not limited to, foot patrols, bicycle patrols, on campus investigations, fight patrols, assigned criminal investigations, evidence and contraband collection and destruction, intervention counseling, parent assistance-resource information, faculty, teacher and administrator assistance, and provide a positive role model for students. They also do classroom presentations regarding several different police-related topics at the request of the schools.
The SROs participate and play a major role in this Department’s diversion programs and implement the summer youth program. The Realization of Personal Excellence and Strength (R.O.P.E.S.) Course, as well as other curriculum, continue to be utilized through various middle school and high school SRO programs. SROs also do various other adult and juvenile presentations, such as classroom visitations, Citizens Police Academy, Law Enforcement Academy, school faculty meetings, gang presentations.
The summer youth program (Farmington Police Department Summer Adventure Camp) has two camps that are held during the summer. The first two-week camp is offered to 25 participants from the two local high schools. The second camp was offered to 25 at-risk youth. These participants are referred by the Eleventh Judicial District Court. The main goal of the program is to build positive relationships between the youth of the community and the police department, and, to give these young people the experience of team building, self-confidence, goal setting, citizenship and to help them gain a better understanding of police officers and their work. The participants are given instruction in the areas of repelling, canoeing, land navigation, bicycle maintenance skills and riding. Participants also experience the R.O.P.E.S course. Instruction is primarily done by police officers. The participants are assigned to five groups of five youth each, creating the teams on which they remain for the two weeks. There are five initiatives for the participants to complete at the conclusion of the program. These initiatives are a Water Obstacle, Bike Leg, Land Obstacle, Land Navigation and Orienteering. The outcome of this program has proven to be very positive.