Edinburg hosts law enforcement training for school officers

EDINBURG, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Edinburg school district police department hosted a statewide law enforcement summit Monday at Edinburg High School.

These series of lectures and training courses were specifically geared towards school police officers and resource officers.

The program is run by the Texas School Safety Center, based at Texas State University in San Marcos. Edinburg is the last stop on the Center's Summer tour that brought lecturers to nearly every corner of the state.

The School-Based Law Enforcement training is an accredited program that partners with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

There are four levels of training that officers can advance through, ranging from a basic course to a master's.

Richard Guajardo, a former law enforcement officer and now Training and Education Coordinator for the TxSSC, said the organization has been hosting seminars like this for the past five years.

“It’s a series that’s only offered through the Texas School Safety Center. It’s at no cost to any agency that wants to take it,” Guajardo said.

Guajardo said these courses differ from other law enforcement trainings because they focus on building relationships between students and in-school personnel. They strive to understand the different stages of the adolescent mind as it grows, allowing them to meet those students where they are.

“Every school is different. You know, every age level is different. Understanding the student mindset, and having those relationships grow with each year that they’re at the campus,” Guajardo said.

Valerie Martinez, Senior Corporal with the Edinburg school district police department, said she arranged to hold the event in the city. Martinez said it allows her office to improve collaboration with other districts.

“We bring in new topics for working in a school-based law enforcement. It’s also great for them to share techniques." Martinez said. "The new roles. The current drug trends. The current trends with canines, searches."

Martinez said officers from as far away as Austin and El Paso came to the Valley to participate.

Class offerings range from understanding the culture of a school to principles of leadership. Presenters also explained changes in the law that apply to attendees and how newly signed legislation might affect their jobs.

“Cell phone use. It’s going to be very interesting to see how we introduce it with our new school year. I look forward to seeing how the students are going to react, and how we’re going to take those, and move forward,” Martinez said.

Guajardo said he hopes the benefits of the training initiative will pay dividends even outside the school environment.

“Not just hardening the targets and making it more difficult for people to come in with weapons, but having that relationship where, maybe something outside of the school is going to happen. Having that talk with that officer and going "Hey, I heard this". That’s going to make not only the school safe, within the school, but outside in the community safe,” Guajardo said.

The training sessions will continue in Edinburg for the rest of the week.