LORENA, Texas (KXXV) — Lorena Police Department is promoting two school resource officers in the district. Chief Scott Holt said SROs are more significant than you might think.
"The SROs have allowed the community as a whole to be more welcoming of police officers in general," Lorena Police Department's Chief Scott Holt said.
Lt. Peter Rivas and Sgt. Sami Bull is taking on new roles to serve our community.
"Reality is our community is about 1800 and our schools about 1800. So, we serve those equally," Holt said.
The department started the district SRO program in 2018.
"It was just me at first. I covered all campuses at the ISD, and then as we started adding officers in, we now have one at each campus," Lieutenant Peter Rivas said.
Rivas said it was a taxing role— making it challenging to develop relationships and connect with students on campus.
"There's a marked difference in the way the kids respond to an officer beforehand. Like there was little to no interaction with law enforcement between our kids," Rivas said.
SROs are responsible for securing the school by checking doors and gates, walking the perimeter, and more, but there's more to the job.
"A lot of what I do, at least on my campus, is a lot of just positive relationship building with the students," school resource officer Sergeant Sami Bull said.
Sergeant Bull works at Lorena Primary, where her two sons attend school.
"Notoriously, in law enforcement, you don't get a lot of family time, and so I was looking for a job that would allow me to spend more time with my family but also still serve the community," Bull said.
Bull used to work for Waco Police, but this was her first role as an SRO.
"It's giving that human side to the badge and letting them know, you know, I'm more than just, you know, the uniform- there's more to it," Bull said.
"It gives me the opportunity to help them see law enforcement positively from day one,"
