Officer Hammond is our school resource officer here at Rensselaer. Some people may wonder what that is exactly, so we talked with Officer Hammond about his job. A school resource officer, by definition, is a sworn law enforcement officer who is responsible for the safety and crime prevention in schools. Having an SRO present in our schools reduces fights and threats by about thirty percent and increases the detection of firearms or weapons by about one hundred fifty percent. We wanted more inside on how he feels about his career, so we decided to ask him four key questions. 

We started off by asking what the role of an SRO is in the school, and he said “Our main role is to try to ensure safety in what we would do in an emergency, and we need to build relationships between law enforcement and students.” This means that student resource officers work to show students the importance of obeying the law, and they do their best to educate us on the dangers of living without following the law. They keep us safe and protected, and they help put together drills and conclusions in the case of emergencies. 

The second question we asked him was “What do you enjoy most about being an SRO?” To this he answered, “I probably mostly enjoy the friendships I have made with the staff and seeing how the school is run, like seeing how the teachers handle things.” His answer shows us that he does care about our safety and our school. 

We asked what additional training or schooling he needed to go through to become an SRO. “I had to go through a 2 week long training to become certified as an SRO.” We asked if it was difficult, and he said “No, it wasn’t really difficult, it just opened my eyes to what you can do as an officer and what you can’t do as a school resource officer.” He informed us that the cans and cannots are very different between the two positions. 

Lastly, we asked what special qualifications he has, if any. He said “I did graduate from Rensselaer myself, and I have children attending the schools right now. I’ve been a police officer for 18 years, and I started as a patrol officer, then I was a detective, and now I am a school resource officer.” This is basically just him saying he has an advantage over some people because he knows Rensselaer, and his children go here. He has been in law enforcement for a long time, and he’s done many different things. 

We are thankful that Officer Hammond took the time to answer our questions. We appreciate his answers and honesty. We are extremely thankful for Officer Hammond being here. He does a lot for us here at RCHS, and he does a great job keeping us protected.