School Resource Officers

Seven Fargo police officers from the Field Services Division are assigned as full time SRO’s in community schools, six in public secondary schools, and one in the Fargo Catholic Schools Network. The department’s SRO program was started in 2000 with two officers and has become one of the most cutting-edge and technologically advanced school based policing programs in the country. SRO’s are assigned to a specific school for up to a six-year rotation and provide a wide variety of non-traditional police services to community youth, educators and parents. Sgt. Kevin Volrath supervises the SRO program, and can be reached weekdays from 8am-4pm central standard time.

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The SRO Mission

School resource officers serve two primary functions: school safety and building rapport between police officers and youth. One of the tools SRO’s use to accomplish these goals is the “SRO Triad”:

School based law enforcement and crime prevention
Law related education
Law related informal counseling

What SROs Do

Enforce criminal and traffic laws at school campuses and neighborhoods
Conduct classroom and community presentations on a variety of police subjects
Build police-student rapport through informal, non-enforcement contacts and activities
Act as an informal youth counselor for many problems students encounter
Use police experience and training to improve school safety and security, in close cooperation with school administrators and faculty
Attend after-school events and activities, like dances and sporting events
Act as a school building liaison for residents in campus neighborhoods, addressing safety, traffic and crime concerns
Teach 5th grade chemical abuse prevention program component (Know Your Body)
Act as a law enforcement liaison with the schools, assisting with communication, crime prevention and criminal investigations on issues that may happen outside normal school hours

Where SROs work

Each school resource officer is based out of an office at their assigned school. SRO’s typically work during normal school hours and when classes are in session, but often are present at events outside the scheduled school day. SROs are sometimes contacted at home during off hours to respond to a student in crisis or involved in a critical incident, like a serious traffic accident.
SROs are experienced, trained and sworn peace officers with powers of arrest. They have a wide variety of training on many police subjects and attend specialized SRO training throughout their assignment in a school. SROs wear the same uniform and equipment as patrol officers, and have a fully equipped police squad car during their shift.
SROs work closely with building principals, administrators and faculty on a daily basis, setting the foundation for successful police/school partnerships.

No Typical Day for an SRO

As a non-traditional police assignment, school based policing is perhaps one of the most misunderstood law enforcement roles. SROs work for months, even years to establish a level of trust and rapport with their students. There is no “typical” day for an SRO, which requires flexibility, time management, multi-tasking skills and well developed interpersonal and de-escalation skills. SROs deal with issues from parking and traffic problems to sexual assault and domestic violence investigations; from interpersonal conflicts among students to bomb threats, even possession of weapons in the schools. SROs “think on the fly”, use creative problem solving and maintain a calm, professional demeanor under the most demanding circumstances.