Story by Sandy Giordano – Beaver County Radio. Published September 12, 2024 2:54 P.M.

(Hopewell Township, Pa) Hopewell Township Police officers Jared Rogers and Miles Newton explained the School Resource officer program in the Hopewell Area School district. The 2 officers explained that the program has been in effect for 6 years and was preceded by the DARE program and having a juvenile officer in the schools.

Officer Rogers explained that with new legislation and training for officers, the SRO program was introduced and mandated by the state. Both officers go to all 3 elementary schools, Officer Newton goes to the junior high school, along with Officer Newton, and Officer Rogers is at the high school. The officers said the biggest issue in the junior and senior high schools is vaping.  Sanctions are filed against the students by the district and they are cited by the Hopewell Police Department.  There are detectors in the bathrooms, and the SRO’s check the cameras when the detector goes off. They both comment that the they think the students enjoy seeing them in the schools.