Report Card Reveals Dramatic Numbers to Eastmont School Board on SRO Program

The number of calls for service, arrests and referrals for prosecution are down significantly in the Eastmont School District. The school board saw a report card on School Resource Officer (SRO) activity at it's June meeting.

While physical arrests were flat this year compared to the prior year, the number of cases referred for prosecution were down by roughly two-thirds

Supt. Spencer Taylor attributes the drop to the efforts of East Wenatchee Police and the SRO's, district staff and administration

"We have the best relationship with law enforcement and that starts with Chief Rick Johnson and their SRO's are just phenomenal.  Officer Cooper and Officer Jurgensen are in our schools all over the place making relationships with students and they can get on top of things before something happens and the partnership thay have with our administrators is the best I have experienced in my career."

The report shows calls related to reports of assaults, sex offenses, theft, drugs and alcohol, harassment and suicide threats have dropped significantly over the last three years.

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East Wenatchee Police Chief Rick Johnson says the results show the SRO program is performing well in the schools even though youth gang activity is an issue in the community,  outside the schools.

"I attribute the significant reduction in criminal cases to the presence of a high functioning SRO Program in our schools. Up until 2.5 years ago Eastmont had not had SRO’s in 10 years. Relationships with students and staff have been built and we are seeing the fruition of that work. It is hard to measure what you are preventing but the reduction in cases is an indication.  It should be noted despite our proactive efforts outside of our schools we have not seen a reduction in gang youth gang activity."

-- Chief Rick Johnson

Taylor also credits the staff and administration efforts to improve relations with students and raise the bar on the expectations for student behavior in the Eastmont School District

What Do the Numbers Show

Detective Sgt. Ben Fauconnier, Officers Ivy Jurgensen and Isaac Cooper gave a report at the June 9th Eastmont School Board meeting showing a similar number of arrests in each of the last two school years but the number of incidents that were referred to the Douglas County Prosecutor were down 66%

The calls for all incidents are trending down significantly over the last three years, including assaults, sex offenses, theft, drugs and alcohol, harassment and suicide threats.