Promoting school safety and education
SRO explains his role within school district
SRO Adam Innocenti wears many hats within the school district, including both security and education. Photo by EMILY CANNING-DEAN
WADSWORTH – Safety and security are big components of Adam Innocenti’s duties within the Wadsworth City School district, but as the district’s school resource officer, there are many other facets to his job.
Innocenti, who is an officer with the Wadsworth Police Department, took on the role of SRO in 2013.
“The year before that I was the liaison officer with the schools,” he said. “I worked the road on first shift, but I was the officer to contact for anything that had to do with the schools. That first year was kind of a trial to see how things would work between the police department and the schools and it took off really well.”
Currently Innocenti has an office at Wadsworth High School. The cost of his salary and benefits are split between the school district and the police department.
“I spend most of my time at the high school,” he said. “We have 1,600 kids here and another 800 over at the middle school, but I try to make it to each of the other schools throughout the week. I stop in and talk to the principals to see if there is anything they need and I work closely with the school counselors, especially if there are issues with certain kids and their home life.”
Whenever Innocenti leaves the high school, he is confident the building is in good hands.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that we have a security officer at the high school – Tom Jackson – he walks around the building all day and makes sure the kids are where they are supposed to be and that the doors are secure,” Innocenti said. “He is my right hand guy. He is the first person I tell when I leave the building and he can get me on my cell phone or my walkie talkie.”
A large component of Innocenti’s job revolves around education. He runs both Safety Town and Safety Forces Summer camp in the summer and is also involved in many initiatives throughout the school year. He teaches a safety belt program to all third graders in the district as well as at Sacred Heart. At the high school, he teaches a class about traffic accidents and what students should do if they are pulled over. At the middle school Innocenti does a program about impaired driving, showing kids the effects caused by alcohol using special OVI glasses. He also works with middle school science teachers to teach a forensics segment and works with middle school health teachers to educate about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
Innocenti also works with a group focused on Internet crimes against children, educating middle school students on how to keep themselves safe from online predators.
Just this year, he started teaching an “Eddie the Eagle” program with the district’s kindergarteners, teaching them how to be safe if they find a firearm.
Innocenti said another large part of his job is networking. As students have become at ease with him, they are often comfortable letting him know if a friend at the school is having trouble. Innocenti can then work with principals and counselors to solve the problem.
“The kids who are about to graduate now were in middle school when I started this job and I think they’ve gotten not only more comfortable with me, but with police officers in general,” he said. “I will get comments from officers who work the road saying a kid will come up to them and say ‘Hey, do you know Officer Adam?’ It seems like police in general are seeming more approachable to kids. I think they are understanding that we are regular people and we are here to help.”
Security is still in the forefront for Innocenti and he said he relies on both the police department and school staff to help him with this. Innocenti is certified in ALICE training. He offered the training to school staff several years ago and continues to offer refresher training. In turn, teachers work with students so they are also familiar with the training.
“During class changes the teachers are in the hallways and help watch the doors and are very good at recognizing who is and isn’t supposed to be here,” he said. “So is Tom, our security officer.”
Innocenti said he also has access to live footage from security cameras at all of the district’s school buildings. He said the police department has access to this footage as well.
“If a teacher spots something that isn’t quite right we can pull up the cameras and see what is going on,” he said. “Even if it doesn’t look to be a threatening situation we can still dispatch officers to double check.”
Innocenti added the school district and the police department have a great partnership and are in constant communication with one another.
“I can’t reiterate enough how great the communication is between the two,” he said. “I really credit that to Chief (Randall) Reinke and (Superintendent) Andy Hill. I’ve talked to other SROs in different districts and this isn’t always the case.”
Innocenti added the police department and the schools continue to look at ways to improve safety and security within the school district. He said the district recently hosted a public forum on safety, gathering input from individuals within the community and added administrators and building principals are meeting with safety forces to talk about additional measures that might need to be put in place within their respective buildings.
“Security is something that is always going to be evolving,” he said.
Innocenti, who is an officer with the Wadsworth Police Department, took on the role of SRO in 2013.
“The year before that I was the liaison officer with the schools,” he said. “I worked the road on first shift, but I was the officer to contact for anything that had to do with the schools. That first year was kind of a trial to see how things would work between the police department and the schools and it took off really well.”
Currently Innocenti has an office at Wadsworth High School. The cost of his salary and benefits are split between the school district and the police department.
“I spend most of my time at the high school,” he said. “We have 1,600 kids here and another 800 over at the middle school, but I try to make it to each of the other schools throughout the week. I stop in and talk to the principals to see if there is anything they need and I work closely with the school counselors, especially if there are issues with certain kids and their home life.”
Whenever Innocenti leaves the high school, he is confident the building is in good hands.
“What a lot of people don’t know is that we have a security officer at the high school – Tom Jackson – he walks around the building all day and makes sure the kids are where they are supposed to be and that the doors are secure,” Innocenti said. “He is my right hand guy. He is the first person I tell when I leave the building and he can get me on my cell phone or my walkie talkie.”
A large component of Innocenti’s job revolves around education. He runs both Safety Town and Safety Forces Summer camp in the summer and is also involved in many initiatives throughout the school year. He teaches a safety belt program to all third graders in the district as well as at Sacred Heart. At the high school, he teaches a class about traffic accidents and what students should do if they are pulled over. At the middle school Innocenti does a program about impaired driving, showing kids the effects caused by alcohol using special OVI glasses. He also works with middle school science teachers to teach a forensics segment and works with middle school health teachers to educate about the dangers of drugs and alcohol.
Innocenti also works with a group focused on Internet crimes against children, educating middle school students on how to keep themselves safe from online predators.
Just this year, he started teaching an “Eddie the Eagle” program with the district’s kindergarteners, teaching them how to be safe if they find a firearm.
Innocenti said another large part of his job is networking. As students have become at ease with him, they are often comfortable letting him know if a friend at the school is having trouble. Innocenti can then work with principals and counselors to solve the problem.
“The kids who are about to graduate now were in middle school when I started this job and I think they’ve gotten not only more comfortable with me, but with police officers in general,” he said. “I will get comments from officers who work the road saying a kid will come up to them and say ‘Hey, do you know Officer Adam?’ It seems like police in general are seeming more approachable to kids. I think they are understanding that we are regular people and we are here to help.”
Security is still in the forefront for Innocenti and he said he relies on both the police department and school staff to help him with this. Innocenti is certified in ALICE training. He offered the training to school staff several years ago and continues to offer refresher training. In turn, teachers work with students so they are also familiar with the training.
“During class changes the teachers are in the hallways and help watch the doors and are very good at recognizing who is and isn’t supposed to be here,” he said. “So is Tom, our security officer.”
Innocenti said he also has access to live footage from security cameras at all of the district’s school buildings. He said the police department has access to this footage as well.
“If a teacher spots something that isn’t quite right we can pull up the cameras and see what is going on,” he said. “Even if it doesn’t look to be a threatening situation we can still dispatch officers to double check.”
Innocenti added the school district and the police department have a great partnership and are in constant communication with one another.
“I can’t reiterate enough how great the communication is between the two,” he said. “I really credit that to Chief (Randall) Reinke and (Superintendent) Andy Hill. I’ve talked to other SROs in different districts and this isn’t always the case.”
Innocenti added the police department and the schools continue to look at ways to improve safety and security within the school district. He said the district recently hosted a public forum on safety, gathering input from individuals within the community and added administrators and building principals are meeting with safety forces to talk about additional measures that might need to be put in place within their respective buildings.
“Security is something that is always going to be evolving,” he said.
