PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Perrysburg junior and high school students are used to seeing school resource officers monitoring their halls. But this year, younger students in the district will be getting to know the officers as well.
The partnership is a familiar one for Quinn Crosby, who has been a Perrysburg police officer for 22 years. Crosby has been working at Perrysburg Local Schools as an SRO for over 12 years and is excited to now teach kids there is a smile behind the badge.
Crosby said he is happy he gets the opportunity to be less serious and
engage with the students and make police officers more approachable.
He hopes the kids won't "immediately get nervous when (police) are around" and become more familiar with individual officers.
Marjoe Cooper, the Fort Meigs Elementary School principal, said the partnership is beneficial for both groups.
"They go in the classrooms and into the cafeterias and they have those conversations get on that level with our young people," Cooper said. "We are such a relationship-based business, once you have that relationship it knocks down some barriers not only in supporting them as a child but especially in safety situations."
While Perrysburg junior highs and high schools do have SROs, elementary schools don't. Adding officers to elementary schools lets them establish those relationships while the students are younger, Crosby said.
Now, officers on patrol are encouraged to stop in during the day to talk to the kids and build relationships.
Perrysburg schools have also introduced the Handle with Care program, which encourages first responders to assist with students coping with trauma. The program hopes to expand to the rest of Wood County, too.