Photo by Ruth Heide Assistant Alamosa High School Principal Glen Hodges and Principal Mark Meyer, back left, celebrate the partnership between the school, School Resource Officer Jason Wilfong, second from right, and students like, from left, Kaitlyn Mincey, Brittany Maestas and Briana Boyd.

Police presence is credited



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — Placing a policeman in the school system has been a positive experience for the Alamosa High School according to Alamosa Police Chief John Jackson.

The chief shared data illustrating the decline in incidents at the high school since the school and police department cooperated to hire Officer Jason Wilfong as school resource officer two years ago.

“Two years ago when I became chief we embarked on a project to make school one of the safest places in the community,” Jackson said. At the time, some students and teachers did not feel safe at school, he said. “We had too many incidents of crime, too many innuendoes of crime.”

Jackson said the Alamosa High School had a large number of criminal incidents for a school its size. That number was cut in half the first year a school resource officer was placed in the school system.

Referring to statistics collected since Wilfong’s placement in the school system, Jackson said, “We can qualify that we are a lot better now. It’s unbelievable how far we have come in such a short time.”

Jackson pointed out that during the 2006-2007 school year the police department fielded 143 calls for service from the high school and 5 from the middle school. Incidents that year involving criminal violations totaled 58 at the high school (74 if Carroll Park was included) and 48 at the middle school.

During the 2007-2008 school year, the police responded to 244 calls for service at the high school and 26 at the middle school. Criminal incidents declined to 35 at the high school and 26 at the middle school.

A few weeks short of concluding the 2008-2009 school year, the police department has answered 226 calls for service at the high school and 7 at the middle school. The criminal incidents have drastically declined, Jackson pointed out, with only 18 at the high school this year and 23 at the middle school.

The high school literally went months without a single fight this school year, Jackson added. Before Wilfong was stationed in the high school, fights were occurring on a daily basis, Jackson said.

He said the department is most proud of the decline in criminal incidents from 74 to 35 to 18 in just a couple of years. That is a 76 percent reduction, Jackson said.

“The schools and I both feel this is important information to get out so people understand our schools are safe,” Jackson said.

One of the high school teachers told the chief that the change in administrative philosophy and the partnership with the police department were responsible for the drastic change in school climate.

“The school has done a fantastic job,” Jackson said. The city and school district split the salary of the school resource officer although the officer is an employee of the police department.

The chief added that the middle school incident numbers have not declined as drastically because the police department has not had enough time to focus efforts there. “We have figured out what the problem is and we are going to deal with it, but we don’t have the capacity to deal with it.”

He added that fights and assaults are still too high at Ortega Middle School, primarily among females.

Jackson said Officer Wilfong really cares about the youth. For example, during the after prom party this year Wilfong stayed until 5 a.m. because he did not want anything to happen to the students. “He has taken ownership in that school,” Jackson said.

Jackson said a school resource officer has three primary roles: police officer; teacher; and counselor. He said when the police department first went into the schools it was more of a law enforcement role but has evolved into a counselor role.

“Jason is a fantastic police officer,” Jackson said.

Wilfong said, “This is all a cooperative effort from the proactive intervention from the administrators to teachers, custodians, everything. It’s been everybody involved, even kids.”

Alamosa High School Principal Mark Meyer agreed. “It’s been a combination of a lot of different things. Our partnership with the Alamosa Police Department and Officer Wilfong has been awesome. He’s established a very good rapport with the kids here.”

Meyer, who has been involved in the partnership about the same time as Wilfong, said one of the key ingredients is the expectations that the school has laid down for the students, “and they understand what those expectations are ...The kids have stepped up to the expectations.” He said high expectations and consistent discipline are important.

Another key is being proactive. When school officials or Wilfong hear that something negative might occur, they do something about it right away, Meyer said.

He said the results are visible not only in the diminished amount of altercations but also in the lack of graffiti at the school. “We haven’t had to clean graffiti once this year off the outside of the building and last year it was quite often,” Meyer said. Last year he was picking up beer bottles on a daily basis as well, and that is not happening now. “This year I picked up one out in the student parking lot.”

Meyer added, “The atmosphere has just changed around here.”