I have been saddened to read that in some parts of Maine, school officials and City Councils are reacting to the protests and problems happening around the country in response to recent incidents with law enforcement officers. After more than 28 years as a deputy sheriff and an officer in local schools, I can attest to the great value they provide in any community.

Creating an image of police officers as helpful and trustworthy helps develop in children a different way of viewing law enforcement than the unfortunate incidents we are seeing on television today. School resource officers help establish a rapport with young people and show them that law enforcement personnel can be a reasonable, helpful and sympathetic force in their lives during and after school.

I remind those who think that these programs should be abolished to remember that not very long ago, the issue of school shootings was most prevalent in our minds. School resource officers are the first line of defense against armed intruders in school buildings, and this is only a small part of the positive overall effect they have on their communities.

For example, I was working in a classroom as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education representative years ago when the principal came to get me and told me that an enraged father with a shotgun was headed to the school to retrieve his 7-year-old son. I immediately contacted other law enforcement agencies and we apprehended the father outside the school, something that may not have happened in time had I not been present in the building.

On another occasion a mother who knew me through her local school program called me because her adult son, whom I also knew from his school days, was under the influence of drugs and had a gun. When I arrived at the residence, he rammed my cruiser with his pickup and tried to get me to shoot him as a “suicide by cop.” Because of the relationships I had built with him and his mother through schools, I was able to de-escalate that situation and no one got hurt.

This is the great value of school resource officer programs. They add a layer of protection to the school against outsiders while building relationships and trust between young people and uniformed police officers within. These relationships often last lifetimes and make communities much safer.

Maine Public Radio recently reported, “Last year, a study commissioned by Maine’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group looked at the use of school resource officers across the state. It found that officers performed a lot of different jobs, from school security to daily counseling and relationship-building.” This is exactly right – and invaluable work in my experience.

Lewiston School Superintendent Todd Finn made some great points in an interview for that same Maine Public Radio story. By eliminating resource officers, “we also run the risk of eliminating education, mentoring and relationship-building pieces,” he said. “And eventually we’ll create a culture where our kids, only see these deputies as law enforcement. Which is actually counteractive to what we’re actually trying to do.”

Removing resource officers would lower the level of safety in our schools and communities and eliminate one of the best tools we have for breaking down barriers between young people and law enforcement. By continuing to show kids that police officers can be approachable, professional and caring human beings, we can go a long way toward replacing fear with familiarity and reduce conflicts between citizens and law enforcement long after their school years are over.