(SROs) are a safety staple at every high school across the country, but do people truly know what their job entails? I followed Andrea Espinosa, our new SRO, during a portion of my school day to learn about the various roles she has as the school detective, and I found she wears, arguably, one of the toughest and most important hats in the building.
To land the role as an SRO, you have to acquire three years on the police force as a patrol officer. In other words, Espinosa enforced law and order in the streets of Joliet before coming to South. As South’s SRO, she is trained extensively on how to deal with certain situations, such as deescalating an altercation. Hired by the Joliet Police Department three years ago, Espinosa continuously takes part in training while maintaining the lead detective role at South.
“I can deal with anything that is a criminal matter,” Espinosa said. “Sometimes people don’t understand every single thing that happens in the school that has to get me involved.” If Espinosa is involved in a student case, she files an official police report following the incident, whether that includes a home visit or catching a student with a vape pen.
“Any single thing that happens [at South] that I’m involved in, I have to take a report. It is a lot of work [which essentially] comes with a lot of responsibility,” said Espinosa.
Espinosa states it is important for students in the building to know that every time she has to get involved in an incident, a criminal report is filed. Whether the student is a victim or an offender, their name is then filed in the police database. This means those students will officially have a police record on file for life.
“Many students use Snapchat and think once [they delete a] message [from there], it’s gone forever. It isn’t. All [deleted and non-deleted] messages are stored in the cloud,” said Espinosa. As a detective, all Espinosa needs to investigate student messages and images on Snapchat is the Snapchat username and a warrant from the state. If granted access, detectives can see every message and image students have ever sent on Snapchat or social media sites.
When I shadowed Espinosa during passing periods, she stood in front of the media center to observe student behavior, making sure students were safe. She occasionally takes laps around the school to check in with teachers and students as well as enforce school rules and local laws.
Espinosa says, however, she shouldn’t be someone students or staff are afraid to approach.
“I take off my uniform at the end of [my work] day, so I’m not that special,” Espinosa said. “I think it is [important to be] relatable, so if [students want to talk] my door is always open. I am in no place to judge, and I think it’s just a matter of let’s just get to know each other,”.
Espinosa is historically the first female SRO in District 202 and at the Joliet Police Department.
“It’s an honor for us to have her here. I think that she’s already made an impact in terms of being visible [in] trying to get to know students and be a part of our school community. We’re excited that she’s here, and we hope that she’ll be here for a long time,” Principal Lisa Smith said.
Espinosa said she is looking forward to her new home at South.
“I’m very excited to be here for the next probably three years and get to know everybody and watch everybody come in as freshman and lead. When they graduate, it’ll be exciting to watch everybody grow,” said Espinosa.
