Law enforcement on campus: Officer Joe Ramirez is stationed at NPHS
Deputy Joe Ramirez, of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, has replaced Officer Web as NPHS’ school resource officer.
While Web has moved on to become a detective, Ramirez hopes to further bridge the gap between law enforcement and students.
“I’m here as a resource to you guys. My number one (priority) is not always to arrest, its to provide certain things to you guys, whether it be a mentor, someone to talk to if you are having issues, that’s what I’m here,” he said.
Ramirez has been working in law enforcement for 15 years and recently won the Kiwanis Officer of the Year Award for Thousand Oaks.
Ramirez described that while being a police officer was a childhood goal of his, he definitely faced obstacles along the way.
“I had the choice, or the opportunity, to go the good direction, or the bad direction … trust me, I came across a lot of peer pressure, but I was able to go with the right friends, talk to my parents, talk to my teachers, you know, hey, I’m getting pulled this way or that way,” Ramirez said. “Back in my day, we didn’t have school resource officers to talk to, so I think it’s a positive thing here.”
Joshua Eby, school principal, explained the history behind school resource officers.
“It started again I think about 8 years ago, maybe 9, and it came out of (how) they changed the funding and changed the DARE program … and put it into the school resource officer program,” he said.
Eby expects Ramirez to play a more active role as time goes on and students get to know him better and feel more comfortable approaching him.
“Deputy Web had been here for four years, and students knew him, so students would approach him with concerns or questions all the time,” he said.
A noticeable change from last year is the addition of body cameras on Ramirez’s uniform. This is likely in response to the increased strain between police departments and their communities across the country. Conrad Jones, senior, believes that this is a welcome addition.
“Before these cameras came along it was the officer’s word against whoever,” Jones said, “(and) I respect law enforcement greatly, I do think the majority of the officers we have in the U.S. are very good, truthful and such, but then again, there are always a few bad eggs in the basket. So I do think the cameras are good at combating discrepancies or law enforcement problems that can arise.”
Jones also likes the idea of having an officer on campus.
“Overall I think it does contribute a lot to safety on campus, because there is a cop right there if anything goes wrong. Quick Response,” he said.
The Ventura County Sheriff Department’s SWAT team also has quick response in mind.
They can be seen occasionally taining here on campus and at other schools in the county. Ramirez explained the reasoning behind this
“Our SWAT team needs to be aware of what goes on at each campus, how the layout in each campus is. We have certain things that we have set up for the SWAT team … so in case of an active shooter nowadays, they know what they are going into.” he said.
A more noticeable aspect of on-campus law enforcement is the use of drug dogs on student backpacks. This practice is in fact not run by the school resource officer, but rather the administration itself.
Eby explained that “we (the administration) outsource to a private company. There job is to bring in the dogs (and) we do it randomly.”
Eby dismissed concerns that such tactics violate the privacy of students.
“When you are on our campus, we have full rights here (by law), just as parents do, to search you at any time.”
Eby did he express his belief that such measures gave students an excuse for not partaking in drug activity on campus in the face of peer pressure.
Jones is not too concerned with this issue, and is not necessarily against the use of the dogs.
“What should be a bigger problem is people bringing those kind of substances on campus, which is against the rules and laws anyway … I wouldn’t say it is invades my privacy.”
Ultimately, as school resource officer, Ramirez stressed the most important aspect of his duties on campus.
“My biggest role here is safety and security. The kids, students, staff, they are my number one priority. Making sure they are safe,” he said.
