News : Officer Josh West Named first School Resource Officer

The Vinton Police Department is pleased to announce that Senior Police Officer Josh West has beenassigned as the department's first School Resource Officer (SRO). In this role, Officer West will act as aliaison between the Vinton Police Department and the Vinton-Shellsburg Community School District. Officer West is a 7-year veteran of the Vinton Police Department and 2001 graduate of Vinton ShellsburgHigh School. He is currently a sexual assault investigator, field training officer, child safetyseat technician, and standardized field sobriety testing instructor. He recently attended a 40-hour basicSRO training course in Des Moines along with two building administrators from the Vinton-ShellsburgCommunity School District. Officer West will officially begin full-time SRO duties as soon as hisreplacement, Officer Katelyn Schimerowski, completes her field training. The SRO will immediately begin working to build relationships with students, staff and parents. The School Resource Officer fills three primary roles; 1) Educator: The SRO advises students, parents, and faculty on law enforcement related issues andpresents programs on a variety of law enforcement and emergency response related topics that may include; drug abuse, emergency response procedures, crime prevention, and firearm safety. 2) Mentor/counselor: The SRO is a positive role model for students and works to identify andprevent delinquent behaviors through informal counseling and referral. The SRO's dailyinteractions with students, parents, and faculty help to develop positive relationships andprovide for a safer environment for all. 3) Law Enforcement Officer: The SRO investigates criminal complaints and enforces state laws andcity ordinances. The SRO also helps to provide a safe environment through collaborative and preventative security planning with district officials resulting in an improved emergencyresponse when needed. Signing of 28E agreement between City and School officials Pictured are; Chief Ted Paxton, Superintendent Mary Jo Hainstock, Mayor Bud Maynard, and School Board President Rob Levis The SRO program comes to fruition after several years of informal conversations which led to two yearsof intensive study and meetings between City and School officials. Vinton Police Captain Eric Dickinsonand Shellsburg Elementary Principal Ryan Davis travelled to Maquoketa and Dewitt to meet with localpolice and school districts regarding their SRO programs. Maquoketa and Dewitt were specificallychosen for site visits due to the fact they each have similar sized police departments, communities, andschool districts compared to Vinton. Each of their SRO programs have been active for more than adecade and have been very successful. The Vinton Police Department applied for funding from the U.S. Department of Justice COPS Office. Inmid-November 2017, the Vinton Police Department was notified by the Department of Justice that theywould be awarded a grant for $125,000.00. The grant covers approximately half of the cost of anadditional officer for three years in order to assign an officer to full-time duties as a School Resource Officer. The City and School District will split the remaining cost of the extra officer. The SRO position isrequired to be continued for at least one additional year after the grant funding ends. At that time, theCity and District will re-evaluate the program and determine its future.