JOSS Article - Frisco ISD

SRO MODEL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
BRIDGING THE GAP
BETWEEN COPS & KIDS:
From left to right: Sara Mossakowski, Mcguire
McManus, Officer Chadd Springer, Megan
Wright, Lauren Peabody
10 SCHOOL SAFETY Winter l 2008
Frisco Texas Police Department
School Resource Officer Unit
The City of Frisco, a northern
suburb of the Dallas area, is
located in one of the fastest
growing counties in America.
The population of Frisco,Texas has
swelled from 6,141 residents in 1990
to 33,501 residents in 2000, with the
From left to right: Peyton Dobbs,
Charlotte Millsap, Shelby Jones,
Officer Grant Cottingham,Wesley
McElheney, Megan Jackson
By Officer Chadd Springer, SRO, Frisco (TX) Police Department
2008 population over 100,000 residents.
Frisco is home to Major League
Soccer team FC Dallas, the Texas
Rangers double-A team Frisco
Roughriders, the Frisco Thunder of
the IFL Arena football league, and
junior A hockey Texas Tornadoes. For

a city of Frisco’s size, it experiences a
low level of crime rate compared to
surrounding cities.
The Frisco Police Department in
conjunction with the Frisco Independent
School District established the D.A.R.E.
program in 1993. After great success
with the D.A.R.E. program, they established
the School Resource Officer Unit
in 1996 with one officer covering the
only middle school and high school.The
following school year, another officer was
added to the SRO Unit and the growth
began.Today, there are 15 SROs in the
unit with an SRO in each of the four high
schools and an SRO in each of the seven
middle schools located within the city
limits. Frisco ISD currently has over
30,000 students and 4,500 employees.
The middle school SROs are
responsible for covering the feeding
elementary schools, with Frisco ISD
currently operating 19 elementary
schools. The SRO Unit also has an officer
assigned to the Special Opportunity
Center (AEP) and one officer
assigned to the Career and Technical
Education Center (CTE). The SRO unit
is currently supervised by two
sergeants and funded by both the City
of Frisco as well as the Frisco ISD.
They share in the expenses of salary
and training.The SRO Unit is slated to
become one of the largest divisions
within the police department as Frisco
ISD will eventually have eight high
schools and 14 middle schools.
The SROs perform a variety of tasks
throughout the school year. Middle
school SROs present the D.A.R.E.
curriculum to the 6th grade students at
each middle school.The SROs at both
the high school and middle school level
teach on a variety of topics when
requested by teachers and staff.The
presentations given by SROs include
Internet Safety, Drug Awareness, Child
Abuse, Careers in Law Enforcement,
Bullying, Crisis Management and many
others.These presentations are
presented to parents as well during
such events as “Coffee with the Counselors”
and PTA meetings. Presentations
are given to FISD staff members
throughout the year during faculty
meetings and teacher in service days.
SROs have developed presentations to
present to the Mayor and City Council
as well as being filmed for later use.
During the fall of 2007, they hosted a
drug forum in conjunction with the
Collin County Substance Abuse Council.
The biggest project organized by the
SRO Unit is Shattered Dreams, an alcohol
awareness program involving a
mock fatality accident, overnight retreat
and memorial service. Shattered
Dreams is conducted at one of the high
schools every year prior to prom and
requires the cooperative effort of every
SRO including other organizations
throughout the City and area. Planning
and preparation for Shattered Dreams
takes several months.
From left to right: Rachel Laible, Samantha
Nieman, Nicolle Roose, Emily Mital, Officer
Jerry Varner
Frisco PD School Resource Officers
are part of their campus’ Crisis Management
Team and meet regularly to assist in
designing the guidelines for “winning”
during an actual crisis. SROs have also
given input to the Frisco ISD to make the
District’s Crisis Management Plan more
effective.The ideas are based on the
information they receive in training and
their observations on school campuses.
During the summer months, the SRO
Unit conducts a Junior High Police
Academy.The Junior High Police Academy
SRO MODEL AGENCY OF THE YEAR
Officer Derek Sanso teaching Internet safety to 6th graders.
is available at no charge to Frisco ISD
students who have completed 6th and 7th
grade.The course is one week in length.
SROs, as well as officers from various divisions
in the police department, instruct the
students on topics such as building
searches, traffic stops, accident investigations,
crime scene, SWAT entries, and many
others. This is a great opportunity for the
students to become more familiar with the
law enforcement career.This program takes
a lot of organization and effort to make it a
success. SROs have participated in
A.L.E.R.R.T. training. SROs are also utilized
during the summer months for selective
enforcement areas such as motor vehicle
burglary patrol, assisting in the criminal
investigation division, assisting with personnel
and background investigations and
conducting stings looking for the sale of
alcohol and tobacco to minors.
The SRO Unit has been a great
resource to the various divisions
within the police department.They
work hand in hand with the community
and have received great support
from them.The work of each officer
within the Frisco PD SRO Unit is truly
a joint effort and one of the main
reasons for being selected as one of
the model agencies by NASRO.
The officers assigned to the Frisco
Police Department School Resource
Officer Unit are: Sgt. Chris Hollahan,
Sgt. Jason Ellis, Officer Toni Adams, Officer
Tom Attaway, Officer Daniel Baughman,
Officer Doug Brown, Officer
Grant Cottingham, Officer Vince Justus,
Officer Tony Rike, Officer David Russell,
Officer Derek Sanso, Officer Chadd
Springer, Officer Josh Storm, Officer
Jerry Varner and Officer Brandi Werner.
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