SCHOOLS BENEFIT FROM COMMUNITY POLICE OFFICERS

Resource Officers Put Teeth Into Efforts To Rid Schools Of Drugs, Violence

SKOWHEGAN -- Skowhegan Area High School senior Jason Gayne can
remember last year seeing 15 or 20 students gathered around "the tree"
smoking cigarettes and marijuana before school.

Now students have mostly stopped coming to the once popular spot,
located just off school grounds and beyond the reach of teachers and
administrators. Gayne credits School Resource Officer David Daigneault
for that change and for a general drop in drug related problems at the
high school.

In his first seven months walking the hallways of Skowhegan Area High
School and Skowhegan Area Middle School, Daigneault has won over
often-skeptical students and staff who now credit the former Drug
Abuse Resistance Officer with creating a safer atmosphere -- Head
Custodian David Tice has noticed even the halls seem quieter.

Once controversial, school resource officers have become a normal part
of school life throughout the state. School officials say they put new
teeth in efforts to keep drugs and violence out of schools.

Bill Lowenstein, associate director of the Maine Office of Substance
Abuse, said the availability of federal law enforcement grants is the
biggest reason there are more school resource officers.

When that money runs out, communities will have to make a decision,
said Lowenstein. The officers play a valuable role, he said, helping
to provide a safe climate in schools and immediate consequences for
people who violate laws or school policies.

"They also can be educators and role models to the students as well,"
Lowenstein said.

Safer schools help students learn, and the earlier intervention takes
place in the lives of those affected by substance abuse or violence,
the better the chances of success, Lowenstein said.

Gardiner Area High School Assistant Principal Jackie Pare said she
can't imagine doing her job without Julian Harwood, Gardiner's school
resource officer.

"He is able to take discipline issues an extra step if need be to
ensure safety for students," Pare said.

But she said it is Harwood's sense of compassion and caring that makes
him so effective.

Earlier this year, she said Harwood convinced a student to get mental
health services when that student was considering suicide.

"I feel strongly that he saved this student's life. There is not a
doubt in my mind. Not a doubt in my mind," she said.

Skowhegan Area High School counselor Dan Riley said he has learned
more about drug use in his school and he is helping more students
thanks to referrals by Daigneault.

Riley said it is often difficult for teachers and staff members to
know when to take action if they suspect a student is using drugs.

"Dave brings teeth to making a decision legally," he said.

Since September, Daigneault has written summonses 14 times at the high
school for assault, possession of tobacco, marijuana or drug
paraphernalia, and drug trafficking.

He also has made three arrests: for marijuana possession, for sale or
use of drug paraphernalia and for arson after a boy set a fire in a
bathroom trash can.

Riley said students are experimenting with a variety of drugs, such as
alcohol, marijuana and the synthetic narcotic OxyContin. Making it
harder for students to take drugs into schools is not going to fix the
problem, Riley said, but it can help keep it out of schools.

The goal is not to get students into the criminal justice system, but
to intervene sooner in the cycle of drug addiction.

"Dave and I are on the same team. We are trying to help kids have a
chance to do well," Riley said

Ann Schoenthaler, head of support services at the Skowhegan Regional
Vocational Center, said Daigneault stepped in earlier this year when
it became clear that an incident in which a student threatened another
student had gone beyond something that should be handled by a teacher.

She said she feels secure knowing Daigneault is close by and has the
training to deal with such incidents.

"I think the reason (the school resource officer program) works so
well is his personality. The kids like him and he likes the kids,"
Schoenthaler said.

Megan Bowman, 18, of Canaan said many students didn't know what to
think when the year started.

"At first it was like, 'We have a cop here,' " she said.

But once they got to know Daigneault, they learned he was a genuinely
nice guy, Bowman said.

"We don't really look at him as like a cop. We look at him as kind of
a friend," she said.

At first, Lynda Quinn, the head of the high school's special education
department and the chairwoman of the Skowhegan Board of Selectmen, was
a vocal opponent to the idea of having an armed police officer in her
school. She now counts herself as one of his supporters.

Daigneault comes across not as a watchdog waiting for somebody to step
out of line, but as a resource for teachers and students alike.

"His presence is enormous, but it is not threatening," Quinn said.

Skowhegan Police Chief Butch Asselin said that in just seven months,
Daigneault has created a rapport among school staff, police officers
and students.

But while Daigneault's role is also to teach and counsel, Asselin said
he is just as busy as any of his other officers and handling the same
sorts of offenses -- assault, theft, an overdose at the high school,
harassment cases and drug investigations.

There are about 1,400 people in the middle school and high school and
there certainly will be problems in any group of people that size,
Asselin said. "It is all about community policing, and that is his
community," said Asselin.