| SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER PROGRAM Investigator Matthew Martin , School Resource Officer
Phone: 856-686-2204, Ext. 178 or 856-232-2719, Ext. 1109 (martin.m@deptford.k12.nj.us) In 2004 the Deptford Police Department established a partnership with the Deptford Township Board of Education to assign a full-time police officer at our High School. Under the direction of the Attorney General's Education-Law Enforcement Working Group's model Safe Schools Resource Officer Program, our police department has developed the duties and responsibilities of this full time officer assigned at the High School.
Our police department and the Board of Education has recognized that the presence of a uniformed police officer at the High School is a deterrent to fighting drug use and sales and other forms of criminal behavior in our schools. The idea is to provide the safest educational environment for our youth, thereby giving them the best chance for educational sucess. The assignment of a school resource officer will enhance the working relationship of our police department with our young residence and help to build a stronger, safer community for now and the future. It provides us with positive interaction with our student teenage student population that helps us and them solve problems in a constructive way. We believe that this program will reduce the incidents of delinquency in the schools and develop the safest educational environment for our students. We hope to enhance this program with addition of a school resource officer in the Monagahela Middle School sometime in the future. We believe that the students at the Middle School are at transitional age, where a program of this sort would work well. Interaction with our yourth at transitional ages is imparitive to developing solid citizens. Just like the D.A.R.E. program targets fifth graders for obvious reasons, we believe that targeting Middle School age students wtih daily interaction with our police officers has the best chance for ensuring their safety and identifying their needs early enough to make a real difference. Early intervention is the key to resolving most root caused to a variety of problems these students experience. Please visit the following links to learn more about our High Schools and other schools in our Township: http://www.deptford.k12.nj.us/HighSchool/highschoolindex.htm |