John Jameson, 38
Employer: Village of Schaumburg Police Department
Title: School resource officer
Salary: $28,000 to $58,000
Q. What made you decide to work as a police officer in a school?
A. I had worked previously with kids as a D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) officer and saw this as a different aspect of police work. I really enjoy kids and the last thing I want to be with them is a police officer. I enjoy the role of being a teacher, a counselor, and a role model–someone they can talk to and open up the lines of communication, and build relationships. I’ve always wanted to help kids make good decisions. I also had relatives that were policemen and saw them as role models and people that did exciting things. I took courses in criminal justice in college and started on the force at age 24.
Q. What kind of qualifications do you need?
A. You have to enjoy kids. You can’t be afraid of having to go into classrooms and teach. You have to be someone who is sincere, be proactive, and be able to relate to kids as someone other than a policeman. Kids have to feel you’re not judgmental and that you’ll keep their confidences if they tell you something. I also find it’s important to be accessible to kids other places than just at school.
Q. Describe a typical day.
A. When the buses arrive, I’m out there greeting the kids, then I’ll check with the administrators if there’s something we’re working on. A couple of days a week I teach a class called G.R.E.A.T.–“Gang Resistance Education And Training.” There’s paperwork to do and parents that call, but I get out and learn who the kids are. There are 700 here and I know at least half of them by name.
Q. What’s the best thing about your job?
A. Building relationships with the kids and getting to know them. It’s very rewarding knowing I’ve made a difference with just one kid–seeing a student turn himself around and stay out of trouble, improve his studies–that’s really the greatest reward.
Q. What’s the worst thing?
A. When I do have to be a policeman and arrest someone, I feel like there’s something I didn’t do that might have stopped a student from making a bad decision. Usually I’ll wind up having to point out something we talked about in the G.R.E.A.T. program that could have kept the student out of trouble.
Q. How have the new threats against school safety affected your job?
A. Safety has become more of an issue across the country since the Columbine event, but schools are still one of the safest places kids can be. Our jobs are first and foremost law enforcement, but people wear ID badges and we’ve secured all the doors in our building. We tell kids not to open side doors for people and make them enter at the front.
We’ve worked with the principal and administration to develop what we call “Red Drills,” which we practice two to three times a year.
Q. What’s the biggest problem you deal with?
A. Our most common problem here is fighting. There’s a lot of bullying and intimidation. Some of what happens is based on innuendo and rumors. We do a lot of peer mediation and I sit in on sessions and act as a silent observer. I think I wrote a ticket for tobacco use about two years ago, but I can tell you there have been no alcohol or drug incidents here on campus.
Q. What advice would you give to someone considering this field?
A. You have to keep an open mind about things and know that working with kids is what you want to do. There has to be an appreciation for people and wanting to help them. You need to have the ability to problem-solve, and teach people how to do it for themselves. This isn’t the kind of assignment you’re appointed to–you have to volunteer for it.
It’s important to remember what a huge role model you are for the kids–they watch you, and if you’re doing something that seems contradictory, they’ll call you on it.
