Overseeing Portola High, you may have seen this year an uniformed officer standing on the second floor and scanning the campus. Meet 21-year member of the Irvine Police Department and the new interim Student Resource Officer of Portola High, Justin Russell.
This year is Russell’s second time serving as an SRO: from 2007 to 2012, for Northwood High then Creekside High. Russell said that by working with high school students, he is able to guide them and support them—the reason why he returned as SRO this year.
“It’s an age where I think there’s still a lot of mentoring and guidance that I feel that I can bring value to help kids as they grow into young adults,” Russell said.
Due to unanticipated events such as ones that occur at night or over the weekend, responsibilities as an SRO require a flexible approach. In addition to being physically present on campus, the role also includes interacting with students and helping them feel safe, according to Russell.
“For me, it’s more about resource providing and the mentoring aspect,” Russell said. “Letting kids know that ‘Yeah, I’m a police officer and certainly I’m here to potentially enforce certain things,’ but in my mind, I would like to take a back seat unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
In addition to providing resources, being an SRO involves being a mediator, according to Russell. For instance, he identifies and addresses the root causes of disputes between students. Russell said mediating situations before they escalate and helping students learn from their experiences can bring self-growth for the students.
“That [mediating] part is another side of police work that a lot of people don’t get to see,” Russell said. “And being able to utilize that with our student population so that they can look at that and go, ‘Hey, I can grow from this,’ instead of being or feel like they’re being held down.”
SROs can help the school community by keeping students safe with quicker responses to potential emergencies and facilitate friendlier relationships between students and law enforcement, according to sophomore Luna Kim.
Russell is proactive in the school community through engaging and making connections with students, according to Assistant Principal Steven Chai.
“He wanted to go back into the SRO division so that he could work directly with students,” Chai said. “It shows that he cares about students, he cares about their development and he’s been around trying to connect with students.”
At Portola High, Russell said he enjoys these positive student interactions and the school atmosphere. He is looking forward to experiencing school culture, and wants students to know that as an SRO, anyone can come to him for help.
“I continue to be excited about my role and how that fits in,” Russell said. “I want kids to know that if they have questions, need any help, no matter what the question is, that if they see me on campus, they can always come talk to me. I’m there to provide whatever resources I can to help them be successful in their high school career and point them in the right direction.”
