Finding a way to connect
Deputy finds positives instead of negatives in his role as SRO
Editor’s Note: This is the third of six profiles of the six School Resource Officers that work in schools throughout the SCV.
Currently in his 16th year with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Deputy Javier Guzman knew he wanted to be a School Resource Officer five years ago.
“When I was working patrol I always found it was easy talking to kids,” Guzman said. “When this job came up I put in for it and it worked out so far, so that’s good.”
As a SRO at Hart High School and Placerita Junior High School and as a liaison for the Newhall School District, Guzman goes out of his way to interact with every single student.
“I’m not one of those yellers and I pretty much talk to everyone even if they don’t talk to me,” he said. “You see that kid whose up in the corner and no one is talking to, I’ll go talk to them.”
Each day, Guzman arrives at the school before the day begins to survey the campus, speak to staff and see if there is anything pressing to attend to. He also walks around each campus during lunch and brunch to make sure everything is going well.
“I always tell people that 99 percent of our contacts with people are not negative, they’re actually positive,” he said. “A lot of the stuff does not involve police action. A lot of it involves counseling and I think I do a decent job at doing that.”
In his role, Guzman has also found
a way to connect with the school’s Spanish-speaking families who come to him when they do not feel comfortable calling the station.
“I’ve actually given out my phone number,” Guzman said. “There’s a lot of stuff where families have specifically wanted to speak with me about that they weren’t comfortable talking with other people… I hope that I’ve been able to help out.”
Guzman also hopes that his presence on campus has changed students’ perspective of law enforcement and made them more comfortable speaking to him about problems they are having.
“Just because we’re the police doesn’t mean we’re taking you to jail, we want to make sure you’re safe,” he said.
For Guzman, the most rewarding part of the job is seeing students who were struggling during high school return and thank him for helping them during the past four years.
“That’s cool when I’ve had 20 year olds come back to me and tell me their stories,” he said. “It’s encouraging.”