Certified Police Officer - School Resource Officer (SRO)

About the role

This position’s primary duty assignment is within the Special Operations Division as a School Resource Officer (SRO), where the day to day function during the school year is the continuous development of a safe and engaged school environment for Suffolk Public Schools.

Responsibilities

• Patrols and ensures the safety of assigned school and school event.
• Captures and detains criminals and investigates crimes and disturbances.
• Prepares files, reports and records and testifies in court.
• Provides education and instruction to schools on law-enforcement topics.
• Trains and supervises new officers in the field.
• Maintains police vehicle and issued equipment.

Requirements

• Graduation from high school and three years of experience in law enforcement, or any equivalent combination of training and experience which provides the required knowledge, skills and abilities.
• Certification as a School Resource Officer preferred.
• Must be a Certified Virginia police officer or able to gain reciprocity.
• Must possess a valid driver's license.
• Must complete 40 hours of in-service training every year.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of modern law enforcement practices, procedures and investigation techniques.
• Knowledge of local, State and federal laws relative to civil and criminal processes.
• Knowledge of the locations of streets, roads, highways and the geographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the City.
• Knowledge of the content and purpose of legal papers and the practices involved in serving them.
• Ability to provide credible testimony in a court of law.
• Ability to compare and/or judge the readily observable, functional, structural, or compositional characteristics (whether similar to or divergent from obvious standards) of data, people or things.
• Ability to speak and/or signal people to convey or exchange information.
• Ability to read a variety of reports, records and memorandums.
• Ability to prepare reports, correspondence, forms, etc., using prescribed formats and conforming to all rules of punctuation, grammar, diction, and style.
• Ability to speak before groups of people with poise, voice control and confidence.
• Ability to learn and understand relatively complex principles and techniques.
• Ability to make independent judgments in absence of supervision.
• Ability to record and deliver information, to explain procedures, to follow oral and written instructions.
• Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently in a variety of technical or professional languages including legal and medical terminology, and emergency response codes.
• Ability to utilize mathematical formulas. Must be able to add, subtract, multiply and divide. Must be able to utilize decimals and percentages.
• Ability to inspect items for proper length, width and shape.
• Ability to deal with people beyond giving and receiving instructions.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in emergency and routine situations and to adopt quick, effective and reasonable courses of action.
• Ability to apply interpretation of laws to specific situations.
• Ability to prepare clear and concise reports.
• Ability to present court testimony effectively.
• Ability to exercise tact and firmness in contact with the general public.

Skills

• Use of firearms and other law enforcement equipment.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment in emergency and routine situations and to adopt quick, effective and reasonable courses of action.
• Ability to apply interpretation of laws to specific situations.
• Ability to prepare clear and concise reports.
• Ability to present court testimony effectively.
• Ability to exercise tact and firmness in contact with the general public.

Benefits

• Retirement Vested after 5 years in the defined benefit plan. Vested in phases based on years in the Defined Contribution part of the Plan.
• Sick Leave (Full Time employees earn 12 days per year, (accumulating 8 hours per month). Part Time employees earn 4 hours per month Sick leave accrues at the end of the month and may be accrued with no ceiling).
• Personal Leave (All regular full time employees are granted 24 hours of personal leave each calendar year. Personal leave must be preapproved and is not cumulative).
• Health Insurance Coverage available for you and your eligible dependents using pre-tax payroll deductions if elected.
• Supplemental Insurances Employees may purchase the following supplemental insurance policies: short term and long term disability, cancer, accident, supplemental hospitalization, and group universal life insurance.
• Flexible Spending Accounts Employees may participate in the Flexible Spending Account Program.

Pay

• $10,000 signing bonus to each new hire who successfully completes their one-year probationary period.

Schedule

• Full-time schedule.