The Fontana Police Department has received national recognition from the National Association of School Resource Officers Association (NASRO). This award was received for the Department’s outstanding programs and dedication to the youth of the community.

The National Association of School Resource Officers (N.A.S.R.O.) is a not-for-profit organization for school based law enforcement officers, school administrators, and school security/safety professionals working as partners to protect students, school faculty and staff and the schools they attend. The true and tested strength in the School Resource Officer Program is that it is much more than a curriculum. The SRO concept can easily be adapted to the needs of ANY community desiring safe schools and effective community partnerships. With school based policing being the fastest growing area of law enforcement and our membership quickly approaching 10,000 members around the globe, NASRO takes great pride in being the first and most recognized organization for law enforcement officers assigned at our school communities. A wide array of services and programs are available to assist members in developing the most effective program for their community.

History of the SRO Program

In 1994, the Fontana Police Department received a grant from the Department of Justice to hire four full-time officers to tackle community policing problems. Three of the officers were assigned to our Neighborhood Improvement Team, and the fourth officer was assigned as the School Resource Officer. The SRO was tasked to work with five middle schools to identify their community policing issues. The SRO was also responsible for coordinating policing efforts with the other Neighborhood Improvement Officers to resolve those problems.

In 1999, as part of our Alcoholic Beverage Control Program, we developed a program called DRY2K. DRY2K is aimed at reducing underage drinking and driving.  DRY2K was formulated through direct input from students of our local high schools. Their input assisted us in creating a program on alcohol deterrence aimed at their age groups.  The information was gathered and a multi-media program was created. The program was beta tested on Police Explorers and was then fine-tuned based on suggestions. Our SRO's have taught the program in all three high schools within the Fontana Unified School District since the program’s inception in 1999. The success of the program included the following: 

• Winner of the California League of Cities award Helen Putman award for Excellence in Public Safety.

• Winner of the 2000 International Association of Chiefs of Police Webber Seavey Award for quality in law enforcement.

• The program was co-sponsored by Microsoft who produced it on CD-ROM so it could be made available to other agencies.

• SRO's throughout the Inland Empire have received training and are using the program.

• Over 30 police agencies across the United States and Canada are currently using the program.

In an effort to improve our SRO Program, in 2000, the department decided to expand the program and secured a “Cops in Schools” grant from the United States Department of Justice. That grant allowed us to hire two additional School Resource Officers.  The now three SRO’s would each oversee two middle schools.  One of the unique aspects of the new program was that we would have an officer assigned to work in a middle school outside of our jurisdiction. This decision was made based on the fact that some students attending that school lived in our city. Other basic components of the grant were:

• Each SRO would work with schools to identify between 10 and 15 "at risk students" in each school and provide special mentoring and monitoring.

• SRO's would coordinate resources from organizations throughout the community to help problem students and their families.

• SRO's would conduct home visits to contact the parents of "at risk students"  and work with those parents to assist in their efforts to get these problem children into the mainstream.

• SRO's would facilitate parenting classes for parents of troubled children.

• SRO's would develop and implement an effective anti-bullying program.

That program was found to be extremely effective.  After only one year we accomplished the following:

• Instituted Anger Management classes for each of the middle schools.

• Participate on the School Attendance Review Board.

• Monitored "at risk youth" and addressed their disruptive behavior.

• Established partnerships with local community groups.

• Worked with the department's Traffic Unit to ensure vehicle code compliance around the schools.

• Conducted training for school administrative staff on juvenile law and identifying problematic students.

• Developed a brochure for parents describing the SRO Program and contact numbers for local resources.

• Developed a Power Point presentation for parents called "Red Flags" which described behavior of children with a propensity towards violence.

In 2002, the department took a large step in its commitment to the SRO Program by providing a full-time officer for each middle school. The unit was expanded to be comprised of eight officers and one sergeant, making it the second largest unit in the department next to the detective bureau. This was accomplished by securing an additional Cops and Schools Grant for one officer, funding two officers through the City of Fontana’s general fund, one position is partially funded by Colton Unified School District and one position is funded by the Fontana Unified School District. This program is unique for the following reasons:

• Funding was secured from four different sources.

• The program serviced residents attending schools outside the city limits.

• Officers work a 4/10 plan, but all schools are covered with an alternate officer on their days off to ensure all week coverage.

• Officers' training and vacation are planned around school vacations.

• Each officer is responsible for molding programs based on the individual needs of their school.

• During off-track times, officers provide programs at the elementary schools, private schools and community schools.

• All officers are issued Nextel phones and laptop computers which allow them to communicate with each other and eliminates the need for the SRO to spend valuable time at the station completing reports.

The Department is also dedicated to the idea of risk-focused policing, which is concentrating our resources on identified high-risk groups, high-risk neighborhoods or locations.  The Department is working on taking all available data on risk factors present in various neighborhoods and placing those factors on a map, so that problems in different neighborhoods can easily be visualized and identified.  As part of this program, the Department surveyed six thousand children at our high schools and middle schools relative to risk factors in their community.  The results of those surveys have been geographically coded and placed on city maps, so we can identify specific problems in individual neighborhoods, and allocate resources based on identified needs. Our School Resource Officers develop programs for their individual schools based on analysis of risk-factor data in their school’s attendance area.

The SRO unit is part of the Special Operations Division of the department, which also includes the Crime Prevention Unit. These units compliment each other in the respect that training, presentations and general crime prevention material can be used by both sections. The SRO’s are supervised by a full time sergeant who interacts with the school principals on a constant basis to ensure the mission of the SRO’S is being accomplished.

Our expanded program, with all eight SROs’ in place, began July 2002. Since that time we have accomplished the following:

• Developed our “Dream Builders” program which expanded our efforts towards mentoring. Dream Builders allows “at risk” students to see what opportunities await them in the working world by taking them on field trips to work places in the community. (This program will be explained in detail later in this document.)

• Conducted risk factor surveys at all of our local high schools and middle schools.

• Completed Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design studies at all of our middle schools and several elementary schools.

• Recognized as a model program by the Department of Justice.

• Officers instructed classes at the NASRO convention at La Quinta, CA in July 2002, and at the Safe Schools Statewide Conference in Los Angeles.

• Received the James Q. Wilson Award for Excellence in Community Policing. This award was partially won due to the current SRO Program.

• Instituted an accredited Law Enforcement class as an elective at Heritage Middle School.