ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Students in Pinellas County will make their way back to school on Aug. 10.
As the date inches closer, parents and guardians are checking off the final items from school supply lists. At school campuses, the district police department is reviewing safety protocols.
"First and foremost, my role is to make sure that our school campuses and all members on the campus are safe at all times," Officer Julian Battiest said. She has been a school resource officer (SRO) for Pinellas County Schools for two years. She's worked as an officer for 4.5 years, proudly wearing the St. Pete Police Department badge.
The job of an SRO is extensive. As technology advances, it helps officers have eyes on every corner of a school building.
"All of our schools in Pinellas County have cameras on the school grounds," Battiest explained. "It's important we check to make sure those cameras are working, the doors that need to be closed are closed, and that the single-point entrance and exit are secured throughout the day. It's making sure your campus in its totality is secured during school hours as well as before and after school hours."
As a resource officer, Battiest doesn't just complete her duties and leave. She makes connections with the students at her school.
"My passion is working with children, just simply, especially working with teenagers," she said. "Learning to listen and understand what they're going through and building that bond, that rapport with them. Just being an adult that provides a safe space where they feel comfortable."
Battiest has seen her efforts to make relationships with students be a benefit to overall school safety. Students reach out to her with helpful information that she and the school staff can investigate.
"We'll take their information and investigate it while leaving them out of it," Battiest said. "They felt comfortable coming and talking to me about it. So I'm not going to out my source. Rapport-building is a huge factor in being an SRO. It's the biggest asset we have at the schools."
Teachers play a role in student safety too. They receive training before the school year to review new policies and learn how to implement new technology and protocols.
"This week, to be exact, St. Pete Police officers will be going to the schools that are located within our city, the SROs will be going to those schools and we will be providing the school safety training to our teachers and administrators on our campus," she said. "That's basically to provide them the necessary information they need so they understand what their roles and responsibilities are in the event that we should have an active assailant on their campus."
But does it work?
"It is the step in the right direction, absolutely," Battiest said. "I would say it's better to have training than no training. Typically the staff, if not always, are very interactive and focused on the message we're trying to get across. Ultimately, they're also trying to go home safe at the end of their shift."
We've seen time and time again, the headlines of deadly shootings claiming the lives of innocent children and teachers. For SROs, it has changed the tone of the job.
"Well, there's also going to be a tone shift just because of the severity of what happens in a mass shooting situation," Battiest said. "As an SRO, it gives you a little bit of a heightened caution or sense of direction, almost, just to make sure you're taking into consideration what your job is. If you are getting complacent for any reason, that is your wake-up call to sure you're completing each task each day."
While there has not been a mass school shooting in Florida since Parkland, there are a handful of other incidents SROs encounter. In the 2020-2021 school year, Pinellas County saw a combined 52 firearms and weapons-related incidents.
It's potentially one of the most stressful jobs. But what gets her through it: the kids. She's not just building relationships for safety, she's building them to see the kids she interacts with becoming successful and happy adults.
"When it comes to building rapport, it goes as far as mentoring," Battiest said. "Mentoring on campus as well as off-campus. The job as an SRO is actually never finished. There are plenty of students who have graduated that still reach out, that I still help with correcting papers while they're in colleges, job interviews... they think you take the uniform off and you're done for the done."