New Chino Valley High School resource officer says mentoring, perimeter checks are his priority

Officer Hawk, the new school resource officer with the Chino Valley Police Department, introduced himself and described his role as focused on keeping Chino Valley High School’s campus safe and building positive relationships with students. "Hello. I'm officer Hawk. I'm the new school resource officer for Chino Valley Police Department," he said, adding, "I've been in law enforcement about 18 years. This is my first assignment as a a school resource officer here at Chino Valley High School."

He summarized routine duties as perimeter checks and threat monitoring, saying, "Pretty much my job here is to keep the campus safe. I sweep the perimeters, look for threats, look for breaches, check on the students, try to mentor the students when I can, steer them in the right direction, keep them out of trouble." He emphasized mentoring over punishment: "It's not here to, not really here to jam the kids up at all. It's more to mentor them and keep them on the right track and make sure the the campus stays safe."

Officer Hawk said his philosophy is to create positive interactions with students so they will trust school police and report dangers. "My philosophy, I wanna be a positive interaction with police... I wanna be a positive influence in their life," he said. He described moving away from an "interrogation" approach toward informal conversation so students feel they can bring concerns to him.

The statement in the record was an introductory presentation; no formal actions, votes or follow-up assignments were recorded in connection with this statement.