Multiple Partnerships Involved in Working with Schools:

Police Officer as a Partner to the School Administration

When working with any large body of people it is important to develop partnerships. People generally enjoy working with people that they know. The officer’s role is to know the people that he/she may need to work with to help facilitate their efforts to provide a safe school.

One of the more important relationships that an officer can build with a school is one with the individuals that make up the school administration. Working with the administration helps show the students that both the police and the schools are committed to working together. One of the other considerations is that when an officer is called to a school for a student being held for a crime, it is the administration that will be providing them with all the necessary facts for the arrest. Patrol officers should try to develop a relationship with administrators even before calls for service happen. Simply dropping by for a visit can open the lines of communication. The thought that information will be shared more freely amongst people that know each other is shown when working with school officials. Once you are personally known to school administrators they are more likely to involve you in school safety plans, and other security type activities.