4 minute read
BEYOND THE BADGE
by Charlotte Kovalchuk
Four years ago, Sergeant Jason Wolf and officers Patricia Champion and Valerie Adams helped Chief Sharif Mezayek start the Liberty Hill ISD Police Department. This year, they followed him when he felt led to start a police department at Jarrell ISD. “We’re like the PD Starter Pack,” Sgt. Wolf says.
All three officers came on board in September with prior, invaluable experience working with students, Chief Mezayek says. “In this job, you must advocate for the kids as much as intervene in criminal activities. The best thing about this group is that they have already proved themselves. They know how to work with kids.”
For Sgt. Wolf, it’s even easier since he used to be one of them. “I have a little bit of history —I came to school here in fourth grade. I still run into people I knew then,” he says. “You know these small towns – you can leave and always come back.”
That small-town feel is what led Sgt. Wolf and the rest of his team from Liberty Hill to Jarrell. “Liberty Hill used to have that feel, but they’ve grown so much that they’re pretty much losing it. Jarrell still seems to have that small-town feel.”
Having previously served with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Austin PD, and Liberty Hill ISD, Sgt. Wolf will be stationed at Jarrell High School along with his K9, Nosek. Originally from Poland, Nosek was donated by Pacesetter K9, a Liberty Hill company that trains and donates K9s to law enforcement agencies.
“The kids at first are like, ‘Why is there a dog in school?’ ” Sgt. Wolf says. But they have since warmed up to the K9 that serves as both drug detector and unofficial therapy dog. Plus, as long as Nosek isn’t on the job, students are welcome to give the attention-loving canine some pets. “He can be loving on kids one second and the next second he’ll be working,” Chief Mezayek says. “He’s an amazing dog. I don’t know if we’ll ever find another one like him.”
BUILDING CONNECTIONS
Having built relationships with students in Liberty Hill, Officer Champion looks forward to doing the same thing at Jarrell Middle School. “Right now they don’t know us; we are pretty much starting from square one,” she says. Before working for Liberty Hill and Jarrell ISDs, she served at the Edinburg Police Department. “I definitely want to see if we can get to where we were at with Liberty Hill ISD and establish a good rapport with students.”
Officer Adams adds, “I want to be someone [the kids] can talk to and ask questions. I don’t want them to be afraid of the police. We want to show them we’re not mean bullies.” She previously worked for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and Liberty Hill ISD and she will station-rotate among Jarrell’s three elementary schools.
Their biggest goals, Sgt. Wolf says, are keeping kids safe and ultimately helping them become successful in life. “Hopefully, with Nosek keeping drugs out of the schools and building relationships with the kids, especially the ones I like to say are walking that fine line of getting in trouble, we can them on this side of the line and out of trouble. And even if they cross over, we are here to help them through that process so they can learn from it and get back on the right track. It’s all about having them grow up to be successful.”
HOLIDAY MEET AND GREET
Citizens can look forward to meeting the Jarrell ISD police team January 16 during the city’s first A Very Merry Jarrell Christmas festival. “We want the community to feel comfortable with us and get to know us,” Chief Mezayek says.
Pictured: Police Chief Sharif Mezayek, Officers Patricia Champion and Valerie Adams, Sargeant Jason Wolf, and K-9 Nosek
