The School Resource Officer program started at New Ulm Public High School in 2006. Alison Miller was the first School Resource Officer at the New Ulm Public High School. She was able to work at that position for one year, and after that Officer Sarah Splinter took over the position for two years, after that it was Officer Backer’s turn. To this day the Program is still active as Officer Brehmer holds the position.

I was able to get into contact with two of these officers despite their very busy schedules. First I was able to interview Officer Brehmer who for 5 years prior to his SRO job, which started in 2013, was a Patrol Officer in New Ulm; he is also still a Patrol Officer in New Ulm during the summers. “The biggest change between the two jobs is the environment, plus I work shifts as a Patrol Officer.” This will be Brehmer’s 5th year at the SRO position, and he loves it! Brehmer clocks into his job at 7:30 am Monday through Friday and goes until 3:30 pm.  

First I asked Officer Brehmer what he thought his job was as an SRO, to which he answered: “Law enforcement, building relationships with the students, and of course monitoring school safety.” Officer Brehmer works with other staff at the New Ulm High School on when lockdowns are taken place, and they work to simulate them as realistically as possible. When asked what skills are needed to be a School Resource Officer, he replied: “Definitely patience.” He then gave us an example of how one time a kid was walking behind him in the hallways at school and that student started snorting like a pig to try and get inside of Brehmer’s head. Brehmer just stayed calm and sat down with the student and talked to him about why he was doing that, and after the conversation the student understood that there was no point in doing that.

I then moved on and asked what he liked about the job. Without any hesitation, he replied: “Working with the students and being more Proactive; it is awesome to be able to see the students grow, not just educationally, but as a person.” We then moved on to his strength and weaknesses. “My strengths are being very patient, and very approachable, and my main weakness is simply not having enough time.”

After talking to Officer Brehmer, I was able to briefly talk to Alison Miller. Her favorite part of the job was “being proactive and building relationships with the students –  the interaction was indescribable, it was just amazing.” She was very touched when a student with a rough home life came to her, and tried to let some anger out and maybe solve some problems. When asked what she missed about the job she answered: “The interactions with the students and teachers were awesome.” Although she was only the SRO for one year, she is positive that she made a positive difference in many students’ lives.

After asking both of these officers a few of the same questions, their answers were mainly the same. The word “proactive” came up many times in both interviews. In my opinion that is a great word for this job. Instead of chasing kids down and trying to find out where the party is, or writing tickets all day, they both thought that they were making a bigger difference this way.