YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
OFFICER PROGRAM

A Youth Development Officer works with the school administration to provide a safe learning environment for the students. This is accomplished in several ways:

Frequent on-campus visits by the officer provide a feeling of added security for students and discourages criminal behavior.

The Youth Development Officer and school administration work together to address problems as they arise. By working together, both the administration and the officer can complete their investigations simultaneously.

This provides for a more timely resolution of problems and minimizes the disruption of school activity by allowing witnesses (i.e. students and staff) to be interviewed simultaneously by the officer and administration.

The Youth Development Officer becomes a familiar face to the students on campus. Familiarity builds trust (with most students) and can lead to more positive and productive contacts between the Youth Development Officer and students (especially when attempting to gain information for an on-going investigation).

A student who knows and trusts the Youth Development Officer Ismore likely to offer information about pending problems allowing the officer to work with the school administration to intervene before problems arise.

The Youth Development Officer may give classroom presentations at the request of school staff on a variety of topics such as drugs or gangs and may participate in school activities.