Abraham Guzman: Quincy SRO focuses on patience and uplifting students.

QUINCY — Abraham Guzman said the job of school resource officer involves a whole lot of responsibilities, only one of which is law enforcement.

“For me, the school resource officer means being more of a mentor and advocate for our children in our community. I’m not there to punish or lay down the law.”

Guzman said he’s not just there to enforce the law, but also as a helper for the children. He can’t know everyone’s circumstances, he said, so he tries to be a good role model.

Guzman, an officer with the Quincy Police Department, just finished his first year as SRO in the Quincy School District. Currently, the QPD assigns an SRO for three years.

Quincy PD Chief Ryan Green said the SRO position has proven to be valuable to both the district and the department.

“The value lies with building quality relationships between police officers and the students and staff members,” Green wrote in answer to an email from the Herald. “(School resource officers) have the opportunity to interact with students and staff in a friendly, supportive manner. We look at our SROs as mentors and a positive connection to the schools.”

Guzman said the job interested him because he’s interested in helping children.

“I just like working with kids and youth - I’m a youth group leader at my church. So I love kids,” he said. “I guess I would say I’m a child at heart.”

Guzman said the SRO works with school officials to help children and teens who are in trouble, as much as possible, and to try and keep them from getting in trouble in the first place. Children and teens come to him with questions and sometimes with their challenges.

“They build that trust. So they’re comfortable telling you things. Whether it be just words of encouragement or something that they need help with, or an incident that occurred, things like that,” he said.

Each age group brings its own characteristics, Guzman said. High schoolers have a better understanding of the law and the repercussions of breaking it. Middle schoolers are still learning what they need to know, he said. Elementary students still need somebody to show them the way.

“You’ve got to guide them,” Guzman said.

The key to figuring out how to help kids, he said, is figuring out what’s causing them to go off track.

Counselors are very important in schools, he said. Teaming with counselors to see what’s triggering problems and causing poor decisions helps solve issues more long-term.

“A lot of times it’s small things,” he said.

It’s important to get to know students to help them get past those challenges, he said.

“So patience is key,” Guzman said.

He worked at the Chelan County Juvenile Justice Center before joining the QPD. He said that experience is valuable in the SRO job. The young people that came into the detention center were cut off from their support systems, and as a juvenile detention employee, Guzman had to learn how to reach them.

“So a lot of that was finding common ground, trust, letting them know this was not the end of the world. You made a bad choice, but it does not dictate who you are, or what you’re going to become,” he said.

Guzman said he’s learned a few things in his first year.

“I think the biggest thing for me was learning to apply the law, but knowing I still have to at least try and make myself be a friend, and a counselor, and a person that when they get out of juvie, they can still come find me.”

The SRO will sometimes transport youths to detention, including a girl who later saw him at school. She updated him on her case, he said.

“So it was nice to know I did something right, where she was still able to come talk to me,” he said.

The Quincy School District has four elementary schools in Quincy, a fifth in George, Quincy Middle School, Quincy Innovation Academy and Quincy High School. The SRO program has proven successful enough that it’s expanding with a second officer, Jessica Diaz, who will start at the beginning of the 2023-24 school year.

Guzman grew up in Cashmere, he said, and always wanted to be in law enforcement, but life got in the way. Guzman and his wife have been married 15 years and have two children.

“I did sales for nine years. It’s not what I wanted to do, but I had to put food on the table. So I did that for nine years, and after that, I was really, like, ‘I want to do what I want to do,’ which was to be in law enforcement,” he said.

The job with the CCJDC was his first law enforcement job, and after a couple of years he applied to a number of different agencies including Quincy. He’s worked for the QPD for almost six years.

“I was very fortunate because it’s a really good department. They take good care of us - it’s awesome. I’m glad I did what I did,” he said.

Green said the SRO helps both the QPD and the QSD.

“The SROs build trust with the student body and staff and become a valuable teammate in the overall mission. SROs serve as that conduit to take information and conduct criminal investigations as necessary, and respond to emergency situations quicker in order to safeguard lives,” Green wrote.

Guzman simply works to do his part.

“It’s good peace of mind for the students and staff,” Guzman said. “I think it’s also good to have somebody there to be - I would call it a floating counselor.”

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com.