Any questions? Thank you. I just want to say turn on my mic here. Yeah, I'm I'm excited in the direction, the discipline, uh you overseeing the discipline and all the things that's involved with the discipline. You know, um you you run a heck of a meeting, a good meeting for the committee, I want to tell you. Thank you. You know, Cesy, you get me to know how to raise my hand on Zoom. That that's a feat in and of itself. So, I just want to say continue to do what you are doing. uh this board supports you, the administrators support you, and this this means a lot. This adds a lot of value to the success of our district. So, keep doing it. You have the support. Okay. Thank you very much. Good job. Thank you. All right. up next is is actually a companion to this and um that is going to be our um our high school SRO really an introduction and uh an evaluation process of this program.
As you recall, this program has been in the district for several years, and getting an SRO in our district has been uh really an excellent partnership with our local uh service providers in building that trust, building those relationships with our students. But I think what we wanted to know is how is the program working? Uh earlier uh Chief Baritz over at the Creek Park uh police uh contacted me and said he was doing a research project for his master's thesis and he was doing an evaluation and wanted to know if we would like to participate in that. And of course I said absolutely. So he went ahead and uh interview or gave some surveys out to the community and then we followed up with doing surveys for our internal stakeholders and then we worked together to compare our data and then take a look at any recommendations um for the program.
So tonight, um we've got a collaborative team here from the high school as well as uh the Creek Police will be here to share that presentation and um we will also introduce our um our therapy dogs. They are an integral part of that team and I both think both of them are here tonight as well. So anyway, the dogs they are so that you can be No, they do not. All right. So go ahead, our team. Why don't you go on up? So a lot of members here and then tonight you'll meet our uh two SRO officers. Yes. got the presentation. Dan, you got the presentation or no? It should should be up there. That was the one that we had. That's okay. Don't make him nervous.
Good evening everyone. Uh while he's getting that up, I can start with some introductions. I'm uh my name is Patrick Simpson. I'm the director of safety and security here at the Cremon School District. Um I'll start off here with the most important people. Uh we'll start with uh the high school principal, Miss Trish, assistant principal, Lisa Miller. SRO officer Al Taylor, he's at the high school, Dean David Hall, SRO Officer Michael Cage, and Detective Sergeant Adam Gekk. And all the police officers are from obviously from the Creek Mooney are from Creek Police Department and the dogs. Okay, we can introduce the dogs. Um, I know uh most of the board members have been here and we we had a presentation about the dogs previous, but uh my dog here is Lucy. Uh Lucy is the district dog, so she goes around to all the different schools.
She's a full uh fullbred Labrador. Dave Hall's dog is uh what is um yeah, Boston Tario. Boston Tarium. I always forget that. Both dogs came from the Bvard County Sheriff's Office. They were donated. Uh they have 12 more ready for us when we're ready to get them. So, just let me know. Um, I think we're going to talk more about the dogs here in a minute, but I'll get started. So, the focus tonight is on the school resource officer program, and a lot of this does align with what director Riley said, but a lot of our focus is on uh the program. It focuses on the social uh supporting social and emotional learning and the restorative practices. Um, so a lot of the success of the program is due to those professional and relationships that Dr. uh Cara talked about Dr. Collise um and the trust between uh everybody up here, the high school, the superintendent's office, uh the police department, and I I I can't say enough about how what an excellent partner the police department has been.
They are so opening uh Chief Paritz and uh the SRO officers and uh Detective Sergeant Gekk, they're very opening to listening, to communicating, and understanding our needs. uh as a career police officer over 30 years as police officer, as a chief of police. Um I can tell you that's that's pretty rare that they're willing to cooperate that and collaborate that much with us. Um and I that says a lot about the police department and it makes our job a lot easier here that they're willing to to listen to us um and to listen to the needs of the school, listen to the needs of the the school district, listen to me, listen to the the principles, the deans, and everything like that. So, we we are very fortunate and I think that's what not only has made this program successful, but it's what's going to allow us to continue to be successful because we're going to have bumps in the road and when those come up, it's going to be it's very nice to be able to talk to them and that they listen and they communicate and we determine what the appropriate legal, ethical, and responsible action is and that, you know, make sure that it supports the vision of the school district.
So, with that being said, we'll start here with the uh the SRO program evaluation. Um, go ahead. So, the program became uh began in 2018. That was before I was here. That was with uh Officer Walls. Uh, he started the program and then uh I believe right was Walls the first one. He got promoted to the to the rank of sergeant. He went out and then um Officer Taylor came in and then Officer Cage is a recent addition. So um the program was established to uh ensure a safe and secure educational environment for students and staff and visitors of the to the school district. It provides the opportunity for on-site collaboration with law enforcement on crisis and non-crisis related matters. I think that's really important to understand especially with the the climate of law enforcement that we're not just there to arrest people. there's many other um things that we can do that the SRO can be involved in and those things continue to evolve and we continue to come up with ideas uh as I think it's uh serve as an educational resource.
One of the things we came up with that we're that we're going to look to as this program continues to evolve is how we can involve students and uh the police. And one of the one of the first things we came up with is some some involvement with driver's education. Like what do you do when you get pulled over? how do you act? And we talked about different scenarios, maybe putting them in a uh with the SRO, putting them in a squad car so they see what the officer sees, explain proper procedures, talk about laws, things like that. So, that's that's an educational resource that uh we talked about. Some of that came out of reviewing some of this data. Um act as an additional resource. Law enforcement has a lot of different resources that they can add that um may the school and the district may not be aware about.
Those things are constantly changing, different social service program, who's the correct person to call, who's the right person to call, what where is the best contact? You know, a lot of things at the school because we're in a unified school district, it crosses juris jurisdictions and a lot of things that I deal with, you know, it's always uh talking to um Sergeant Gekk a lot, it's always where's the jurisdiction at and that's a big determination in law enforcement. So, who's going to investigate that? So, that's important. Uh serves as an opportunity to build positive and professional relationships. Obviously, that's a parent. Just them being at school and being around and being able to talk to the kids, interact with them. Uh, Officer Taylor's big in Special Olympics for us. We're going to continue to develop different programs to have them be involved with and hopefully, you know, get the return on that investment.
And, uh, we want to have more involvement with them, with the community, the school district, and law enforcement in general. So, that that's our hope as this program continues to evolve. So, with this being said, an SRO handbook was created. Um, we're in the final stages of that. We just had an additional change. We made sure all our updates are there. We made sure it aligns with um ISBY. Uh Illinois school law, it's legal, it's responsible, it's ethical. Uh we made sure that the police department reviewed it. They had input. Uh the school district reviewed it, the high school reviewed it, the deans reviewed it. We've had a lot of input on this, but overall the the handbook provides overall guidance and direction for the SRO program. It defines terms, objectives, and procedures for the operation of the program, and it ensures compliance is m uh maintained with with those different agencies and organizations.
There are some standards um for SRO officers, but we want to make sure that we have our own standards, which were created and established and presented in this book. And then uh there's quite a few changes that have been actually more than a few uh with law enforcement. There hasn't been too much focused on SRO, but there's been so many mandates that have come up with law enforcement. There was just a bunch that happened in uh July. I'm going to say that there's going to be more coming in January. So, this will allow us to make sure that we stay aligned with the standards uh uh with the Illinois Law Enforcement Trainings and Standards Board and Illinois Law. So, that's where we are with the handbook. Let's see what the next slide here is. And then uh this is going to be we're going to introduce uh Officer Michael Cage and Officer Al Taylor.
I think I introduced them already. Again, this is uh Mike, you want to tell them a little about yourself? Sure. Good evening everybody to the superintendent to the board. My name is Officer Michael Cage. I've been a police officer almost 26 years, four years with the village of Creek. I live in Creek. I also did uh police leaison with Rich Township, Rich Central, Rich South, and Rich East for six years. Um also, uh I'm a graduate from Chicago State University with a degree in um Bachelor of Science, criminal justice. Um also I'm a juvenile officer, CIT trained. Also, I'm a DARE officer and uh School resource officer. Most importantly, that part is important. Yes, I'm glad to be here. Thank you for having me. Thank you. I'm Officer Al Taylor.
Uh good evening everyone. Uh I've been with the Creek Police Department for 16 years. All my law enforcement career has been with the Creek Police Department. Uh prior to that, I was uh military active duty active duty Navy for eight and a half years. um started school resource officer back in 2019. Got trained was in the school uh in the later year of 2019 um and continued when the school opened back I was there to the pandemic and continue with the school opening back up. Um I am big with Special Olympics. I'm the law enforcement torch run liaison which is a support and awareness effort for Special Olympics. I've seen I've done that for I think nine years, eight years or nine years, but I've seen with uh if you guys know Michelle Caleroni, uh I used to go to her classroom all the time and I've seen kids that were in her third grade class.
They're now in high school now and I still recognize them. They still recognize me. So, uh have a really good relationship with them. I'm trying to build relationships also with the kids in the high school. There are uh uh certain individuals that come to me and talk to me, which is pretty cool. I have been in uh uh I have been in to the first half of the driver's education uh um classes and that was interesting. That was very very interesting. I went through uh uh traffic stops and stuff like that. But all the all of those classes came down to one simple question about the cannabis law. Why, you know, in the car, that type of thing. And I had to break it down. like by no means you guys are not going to be allowed to have it in the car period. You're not even 21 yet.
But anyway, uh thanks for having me and have a good night. Thank you. Adam, you want uh uh Adam, you want to introduce yourself? Good evening everybody. I'm a detective sergeant with the uh Creek Police Department. Talking about building relationships, I've been here 15 years, been investigations in 10 years. I probably know less than uh what Mr. Hall conducted over 100 investigations uh within the school. Uh most of them have been good. Uh positive interactions. Uh I've been here a long time. As a uh parent, uh this is very uh this means a lot to me. Uh the schools, the kids, uh going back and forth with the police department. I've had great experiences here and uh thank you for having me. You're welcome. Adam, I think this is yours. Uh, Chief Peritz could not be here tonight, so uh, Detective Sergeant Gosill in for him.
Again, as uh, Mr. Simpson said, uh, Chief Parrots cannot be here tonight. Uh, essentially uh, uh, what uh, Dr. Carrick Cognney said that uh, he worked on his master's program at the uh, Governor State University. Uh the SRO program is near and dear to his heart too. Uh he'd been wanting to bring this program back. Uh years ago we did have this program and it went uh cold for a long time and we finally brought it back and we want to make this program uh something that could be built upon and be very positive. So essentially uh the purpose of the study is to determine what a SRO is. School resource officer in the high school uh hat and crime gain reduction uh which was big uh with his project perception of safety and ability to build a positive relationship between the school and the police department.
uh random sample uh sample population uh found 130 individuals including teachers, parents, school administrators and the general public that he sent out the uh sample survey to who resided within the uh school district. uh the answer to the survey questions over are favorable and we're used in conjunction with the school survey to uh form new priorities, objectives, and protocol and changing the SRO program because it always needs to be changed. It needs to be updated fresh. There's always something new. What Mr. Simpson said, uh the safety act went into effect in July of 2021. Uh there's probably going to be more changes and they're always for the better. We're always evolving and moving on. So with that being said, uh many positive interactions between the SRO students and teachers, alternative methods other than to arrest, uh being a juvenile officer myself, uh it's about restorative justice.
It's not just about making an arrest. Uh juvenile has a lot of time to uh learn who they are, uh go in the military, uh develop a job. Uh one uh simple mistake shouldn't be the uh downfall of their uh adulthood. So there's a lot of different uh a lot of different variables for a uh juvenile and juvenile officer relationship. That's why that relationship is so important. Uh minor school roles, greater involvement with teaching classes. We want to be uh more involved. We want to be seen. We want to be in the classes. Uh they had a great interaction with the kids talking about something as simple as cannabis, but that got the conversation flowing and and it's just going to be the beginning. All right. Now, Steve Ray, uh, respondents were given 15 questions to answer. Uh, some of those questions, 93.8% of the, uh, participants, uh, supported allocating resource for an esro in high school compared to 6.3% that were opposed.
79.8% 28% believed having an escrow in the school reduced gang affiliation activity compared to 20.2% that did not. 89.3% strongly agreed or agreed that school staff and police working together closely is a deterrent to crime at the high school compared to 6.9% that were neutral and 3.8 that disagreed. 91.5% strongly agreed or agreed that the high school was safer when ethyl present compared to 4.6 that were neutral and 3.9 that disagreed. 94.6% believe that esro relationships with the student can erase negative stereotypes and eliminate behaviors between the police and the younger generation compared to 3.1% that were neutral and 2.3% that disagreed or strongly disagreed. That relationship, that barrier, removing that barrier is so important. If they don't know who they are, they don't know that they could come to them when they just find out that just a normal person with a uniform on that they could come to them with problems at home, anything that's going on in their life.
Uh, Officer Walls did a really good job with this uh couple years ago. Uh, he played football here. Uh, the kids would come in and talk to him about sports and that would open up to what's going on at home. And then again, we're really trying to build on that and make this great. That's it. All right. 88.4% believe an SRO could help smaller student problems before they escalated into larger populations compared to 6.9% that were neutral in the question and 4.6% that disagreed or strongly disagreed. 83.8% believe that having an escrow in the school is a deterrent to those intending to commit violent acts in the school compared to 78% that were neutral in the question and eight and a half that disagreed or strongly disagreed. 59% believed that having an esro in the school led to a reduction in criminal deviant behavior compared to 29% that were neutral in the question and 10% that disagreed or strongly disagreed.