Helps

Break Down Barriers

TOMS RIVER – When High School East School Resource Officer (SRO) John is not involved with crisis de-escalation and all of his other duties, he can often be found hanging out in the classrooms sitting alongside students or young adults asking about their work, giving fist bumps and high fives, cracking jokes, or even participating in spontaneous dance parties. Through these small and kind gestures, many HSE students, including those with special needs, have felt less intimidate by police officers, and families have often approached Officer John to thank him.

This culture inspired Officer John and district behavioral analyst Colleen O’Donnell to coordinate a first responder interaction event with several local agencies, which took place April 21 at the school.

The event provided students exposure to additional uniformed first responders in a safe and familiar setting.

“For families of the Toms River community and the population of students that High School East serves,” said O’Donnell, “experiencing events like this could be life changing and even life saving.”