Community Resource Officers

The Community Resource Officers teach and coordinate programs throughout the county including schools, businesses, and community organizations. The Community Resource Officers are responsible for the following Sheriff's Office programs:

School Programs

The Portage County Sheriff's Office offers school safety programs in nine different schools in Portage County. All the schools are located in the jurisdiction of Portage County. The schools are:

• Almond High and Elementary School
• Amherst High and Elementary School
• Bancroft Kindergarten
• Grant Elementary School, Kellner
• J.F. Kennedy Elementary, Village of Junction City
• McDill Elementary, Village of Whiting
• Rosholt High and Elementary School
• St. Adalbert Elementary and Middle School, Rosholt
• Sacred Heart Elementary and Middle School, Polonia

The schools are provided with a list of programs offered at the beginning of the year. They are as follows:

• Stranger Awareness Texting and Driving
• Abduction Prevention
• K.I.D.S. Fingerprinting
• Latch Key Program
• 911 Emergency Phone Calls
• Drug-Free Programs
• Poison Awareness
• Eddie the Eagle-Gun Safety
• A.L.E.R.T. School Safety Drills
• Internet Safety
• Counter-ACT
• Bike Safety
• Bike Rodeo
• Vandalism
• Shoplifting
• Driver's Education Talks
• Alcohol and Drugs Talks
• Safety Cadet Training
• Sheriff's Office Tours
• Sexual Assault Talks

These are the programs offered to the schools but are not limited to since the school will request presentations related to specific problems that arise throughout the school year including bully talks, personal space, and inappropriate touching.

Programs also offered are: shoplifting talks, abduction prevention, and other programs related to safety.

Most of the topics listed above are one-session talks. The CounterACT program is more in-depth and is six one-hour sessions that include a presentation to the parents. Each program has material handouts for the students, which include workbooks and fun stuff for the kids. We also have gun lock giveaways and bike helmets available for families that can't afford them.

Community Programs

The Sheriff's Office is also involved in the Neighborhood Watch program. We have a strong existing Neighborhood Watch Program and it continues to grow. The program is designed to help neighbors watch out for each other.

We also do presentations at daycares, elderly housing complexes, and driver education classes.

Citizen's Academy

In March of 2007, the Emergency Services Citizen's Academy was started back up by the Community Resource Officer. We had ten students sign up and complete all the classes. The Academy ran for ten weeks, one night a week, usually on Wednesdays for two hours. The classes consisted of a jail section, patrol section, OWI stops, accident reconstruction, vehicle contacts, emergency vehicle driving, firearms, defense and arrest tactics and drug investigations. Most of the students also participated in the ride-along program making their class time just a little longer to better their knowledge about our agency.