Safety starts early with SRO Trevyn Phelps

Being a police officer comes with a lot of unexpected duties, though most of them are less fun than being an ambassador around the school for “Chocolate Thursday,” which is how School Resource Officer Phelps spent his morning last Thursday.

“Mister Worthington does Chocolate Thursday every week to let the staff know that he appreciates them, and he wasn’t able to be here so I filled in,” Phelps explains, handing the bowl to second grade teacher Cheryl Harris. 

Phelps worked patrol for several years before taking on the role of SRO, which he’s going into his third year of.  He explains that the difference between the kind of work he did as a patrol officer and his current job is that now he gets a better look at those he works with are doing over time.  “I have a more dedicated job here, where I can see the outcomes of things and work on cases as they progress.  On patrol, we just take care of situations right then, but don’t usually see them as they make their way through the courts.”

Asked whether there were issues from the school that made their way through the courts, Phelps said “ultimately, that’s not our goal.  Some things do, of course, because that’s just how they play out, but we try to do a diversion prior to getting to that point.  That gives us an opportunity to get a change with the student’s behavior.

While the magistrate court has a diversion program, the Soda Springs Police have their own, which can be applied to situations arising from Soda schools.  “We like to give as much extra help and guidance to the kids as we can before we go that far,” he says.

“I set it up to be a mentor-type thing where I watch their grades and their progress.  There’s some community service involved.  It’s individualized and flexible to meet the needs of the specific child.”

“It’s a lot of long days, but once it’s implemented it sort of runs itself.  Right now, there are three kids within the SRO diversion program, which is an overall decrease in the number of kids who have needed that sort of intervention,” Phelps says.

He is the first fulltime SRO in the recent history of the city.  Part time officers have been used within the schools in the past, but hours, funding, benefits, and other issues made that logistically difficult.  The current program shares its costs between the city and the school district, both of which have claimed to see it as a benefit.  National statistics bear out the idea that the presence of an approachable police officer within the school system results in a decrease in behavior issues within school, and a generally lower crime rate in the area the school is located.  In other words, it’s possible to see the program as a means of cost-saving through prevention.

“The kids are awesome.  They know my names and they’re familiar with me.  It’s great to see them out in public and have them recognize me because our whole goal here is to build relationships, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Phelps is also a trained EMT, which is a skillset he suggests all officers should have.  “Especially here,” he adds.  “Kids get hurt.  I’ve had broken arms, seizures, all kinds of medical issues.”

Phelps divides his time between the D150 schools.  “It’s pretty equal between all three schools, but it’s unpredictable,” he says.  “Sometimes one school needs more attention than, say, the elementary school depending on what’s going on.  But a perfect day would look like giving schools all the support that they each need throughout the day.”

Another thing shared by the schools are “Go Buckets.”

“Go Buckets are part of a program called ALICE, which stands for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate.  Part of that is having tools and supplies so that when we need to evacuate or are locked down for longer, the schools have something they can rely on,” Phelps explains.  Each classroom has one of these buckets, which include tourniquets for bleeding control, toilet paper, garbage bags, para cord, window breakers, lights, glow lights, emergency blankets, class rosters, and other items.  The bucket can be used as a toilet in case of emergency, and a privacy screen can be easily made from the items inside.

In addition to active shooter lockdowns, the buckets are designed to be used for weather events that keep students in place, and offsite locations during evacuations.

Every third classroom has a trauma bag filled with bulk medical supplies to be used in case of incidents that require early medical interventions.  Things such as collapsable litters for transport, chest seals, and other first response emergency items are inside.  The bags were purchased through a grant from the Idaho Health Department Coalition by the school.  The goal is to have them spread throughout the school for easy access.  All three schools in the Soda District have the buckets and bags distributed throughout their buildings.

As Phelps leaves the office and heads down the hallway, he is greeted by every kid he sees along the way.  It’s a school, so that’s a lot of kids.