Cape Wide News for Friday September 7th, 2012

Top photo by CWN associate John P. Carroll; lower photos by Frank F. Paparo/CWN

The SRO program was designed around a format used in the Sandwich public schools. In the mid-1970’s officer Mike Miller, who retired at the rank of Chief of Police in Sandwich, was serving full time in the high school. The Sandwich program lasted about a decade before being canceled in the mid 80’s. At that time the Yarmouth Police Department under Chief Robert Chapman was exploring new ways to address issues at D-Y High School. Michael Almonte, who also retired at the rank of Chief of Police in Yarmouth, was then a Detective Sergeant assigned to work with the school on finding the solution. The initial focus of the discussion was to introduce an undercover officer into the high school. Principal Curtis Collins had served at Sandwich High as an assistant principal before coming to D-Y. He had seen first-hand the effectiveness of a school based police officer and he and Sergeant Almonte proposed the idea to Chief Chapman and Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Michael McCaffrey. The idea was not an easy sell, particularly to the community. There was resistance to having police in the school but all involved in the effort saw that the benefits could be great and hoped that the resistance would be short lived.
The position was designed as a half-time post at the school, twenty scheduled hours per week, or five half-days. The other half of the time would be spent following up on criminal investigations. Steven Xiarhos was selected by a joint panel of school and police leaders. His new assignment gave him the title of detective and had him transferred from patrol to that division. A cost sharing arrangement was set up where the school district would pay for the officer’s time assigned to the school. Xiarhos’ work was cut out for him. There was no special training or any predecessor from whom he could get advice. The trail was his to blaze. To his surprise, and relief, Mike Miller called. The two spent some time together and Miller, now reassigned to other duties at Sandwich PD, leant some timely guidance from his considerable experience.

The Yarmouth Program ran successfully for several years, building the confidence of the community inside and outside the school. “Officer X” developed a rapport with the students and relationship with the faculty that allowed him to earn trust and operate effectively in what had not always been a welcoming environment. In a short time the police officer in the high school was part of the fabric of D-Y.

Even with the unquestionable success of the program there was something missing. Roughly 60% of the student population at D-Y was from Yarmouth, the other 40% from the Town of Dennis. In mid-1994 the Dennis Police named its first school resource officer, Craig Stevenson. This marked a time of change for the Yarmouth program. Stevenson’s assignment had him posted at D-Y High School two days a week and at the Nathanial H. Wixon Middle School in Dennis three days a week. Xiarhos would now spend two days a week, the days Stevenson was at the high school, at Mattacheese Middle School. The moniker, “D-Y P.D.” (Dennis-Yarmouth Police Detachment) was coined by the newly formed team. June of 1994 would also mark the end of Xiarhos’ seven and a half years in the schools. He returned to the patrol division where he spent a short time on the road before he was promoted to patrol sergeant. Nicholas Pasquarosa was selected to succeed Xiarhos in the position and assumed the D-Y/Mattacheese/detective post in August of 1994.

The title School Resource Officer, or SRO, was adopted by the YPD and Pasquarosa was sent for a week of specialized training in Boston offered by the National Association of School Resource Officers. In 1995 the Yarmouth Police received grant money to expand its school based operations and instituted the “Adopt-a-School” program. Patrol officers volunteered to adopt one of the four elementary schools in town to provide safety programs and SRO-like services as their regularly assigned patrol duties allowed. This supplemented the DARE program that was in its early stages at the time. Both Adopt-a-School and DARE would run for several years before eventually succumbing to lack of funding.

The Yarmouth SRO program continued under this format until 1996 when the school district faced a significant budget shortfall and funding for the school resource officer was reduced to just twelve scheduled hours. The presence at Mattacheese Middle School was discontinued indefinitely. The presence at D-Y continued at three half-days a week. In 1997 Yarmouth Chief of Police Peter Carnes, at considerable strain to his budget, reinstated the 20 hour schedule at the high school to restore continuity of services.

In 1998 Craig Stevenson left the school post to take an assignment as a narcotics investigator. He was succeeded by Officer Garvin Kelley who served at D-Y until 2001 when he was offered a detective post. Detective Kelley was replaced by Officer Greg Farnkoff who served for eight years until his return to the patrol force in 2008. Officer Farnkoff was replaced by Officer Patrick McCaffrey, who in addition to his SRO duties, serves as the Dennis Police juvenile detective. Detective McCaffrey is the son of the late Superintendent of Schools Michael McCaffrey who courageously instituted the program. Detective McCaffrey is the currently serving Dennis Police School Resource Officer.

The Yarmouth Police Department under the Carnes administration had, for several years, sought federal grant money to make the SRO at D-Y a full-time position and add a full-time SRO position at Mattacheese Middle School. The department received the grant in 2003. This removed the position from the Detective Division and reinvented the job description.

Nick Pasquarosa was retained at the high school and veteran patrol officer Bill Coughlan was selected for the Mattacheese post. As required (and funded) by the grant, both officers along with D-Y Principal Ken Jenks were sent to Atlanta, Georgia where they received three days of training from the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice. The Yarmouth Police and D-Y School District worked out a cost sharing plan to ensure the continuation of the program when the grant expired in 2006.

In 2008 the Town of Yarmouth, and by extension the Police Department, fell into financial difficulty. The school resource officer unit was disbanded as one of several cuts made to balance the police budget. Just after school started Michael Almonte, godfather of the SRO program and now Chief of Police, Superintendent of Schools Carol Woodbury and D-Y Principal Ken Jenks came to an arrangement in the face of political opposition and restored the school resource officer at D-Y High School. The D-Y Police Services Unit reopened on September 18, 2008 with the reinstatement of Nick Pasquarosa as SRO. The Mattacheese SRO did not survive the cuts, “Officer Bill” Coughlan returned to the patrol division and retired from the Yarmouth Police Department one year later. The Mattacheese Middle School Police Services Office remained closed until the spring of 2011 when Superintendent Woodbury and the next Yarmouth Police Chief, Frank Frederickson would come to an arrangement allowing for the assignment of a School Resource Officer to Mattacheese Middle School for the fall of 2011. Veteran Yarmouth police officer Sean Brewer was selected and is currently assigned to that post.

The school resource officer program has seen many variations over the years. Since 1987 there have been six police chiefs between the two towns, five school superintendents, ten principals of the various schools served, countless assistant principals, thousands of students and eight school resource officers. Every officer brought his own style and personality to the endeavor. In that time the SRO has become a full-time job, the Yarmouth Citizen Police Academy has been taught as a class at the high school, and the Rape Aggression Defense (RAD) program was introduced to the student body and expanded to the community. The emergency management procedures developed at D-Y have been adopted by school districts and police forces across the Commonwealth and over $400,000 in federal grants have been brought to the district to improve security throughout the district.

Any relationship is bound to have its ups and downs over the course of twenty-five years but even in its deepest valleys the partnership between the Yarmouth Police Department and the D-Y School District, and the high school in particular, has always been a strong one. It stands as an, often envied, example to other communities who wish to face the challenges in their schools in a cooperative and effective way. This long standing success has been achieved through a strong commitment to partnership. We are pleased and very proud to be celebrating our silver anniversary.

Where are they now?
~ Dr. Michael McCaffrey ~
Retired as Superintendent of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District in 2001 and passed away in 2006
~ Curtis S. Collins, Jr. ~
Retired in 1995 as Principal of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School
~ Robert Chapman ~
Retired in 1995 as Chief of Police in Yarmouth
~ Peter Carnes ~
Retired in 2005 as Chief of Police in Yarmouth and is currently serving as Chief of Police at Stone Hill College
~ Michael Almonte ~
Retired as Chief of Police in Yarmouth in 2010
~ Frank Frederickson ~
Currently serving as Chief of Police in Yarmouth (Since 2010)
~ Carol Woodbury ~
Currently serving as Superintendent of the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District (Since 2005)
~ Ken Jenks ~
Currently serving as Principal of Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School (Since 1999)
~ Mike Miller ~
Retired as Chief of Police in Sandwich in 2005
~ Steven Xiarhos ~
Founding D-Y SRO (1987 to 1994) Currently serving as the Deputy Chief of Police in Yarmouth
~ Craig Stevenson ~
Dennis Police SRO 1994 to 1997 Continues to serves as a Dennis police officer having done tours with the Cape Cod Drug Task Force and in the Dennis Police Detective Division
~ Garvin Kelley ~
Dennis Police SRO 1997 to 2000 Continues to serves as a Dennis police officer having done an extended tour in the Dennis Police Detective Division
~ Greg Farnkoff ~
Dennis Police SRO 2000 to 2008 Returned to the Dennis Police Patrol Division in 2008 and retired shortly thereafter
~ Patrick McCaffrey ~
Currently Serving as the Dennis Police Juvenile Detective / SRO at D-Y High School and Nathaniel H. Wixon Middle School (Since 2008)
~ Bill Coughlan ~
Mattacheese Middle School SRO 2003 to 2008 Returned to the Yarmouth Police Patrol Division in 2008 after budget cuts closed the Mattacheese Police Services Office, he retried about a year later
~ Sean Brewer ~
Currently serving as the Yarmouth Police SRO at Mattacheese Middle School (Since 2011)
~ Nick Pasquarosa ~
Currently serving as Yarmouth Police School Resource Officer at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School (Since 1994)
For more on the current D-Y School Resource Officer Program explore the rest of www.DYPD.us.
Media release furnished by Yarmouth Police

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