MONTE VISTA - Monte Vista police officer Dylon Golden, has just started as the new School Resource Officer for the Monte Vista School District. Golden will be at the schools Mon-Thurs, eight hours a day, and will also continue to respond to regular calls for service whenever needed. Golden will be visiting and helping out in every school in the district. This year the district is also hoping to have Golden spend time with some of their Delta Center students as well.

When asked what his day as the SRO looks like Golden answered saying, “Every morning I try to go to a different school to assist with traffic and greet some of the kids as they’re coming in. Throughout the day I’m just going through the schools making sure everybody’s safe. I’ve had a couple of kids that want to speak with me and anytime I can make time for them that’s always good because it gives them that positive interaction. Then every evening, when they’re getting out, I just kind of at random again pick a different school to help with traffic again.”

Golden shared that Bill Metz parking lot especially seems to have more traffic issues saying, “Our big one for traffic this year seems to be Bill Metz elementary. Just the way the parking lot is set up it’s not really conducive to dropping off all those kids. So, I’m trying to spend some time there mornings and afternoons, just to make sure that nobody’s running stop signs or getting impatient and going through crosswalks when they don’t need to.”

When asked if he has been encountering new challenges as the SRO with COVID-19 social distancing guidelines in place Golden said, “A little bit. As far as social distancing goes, I think it’s the most difficult with the younger kids at Marsh. A lot of them are very curious about my equipment and a lot of them just because of the impact that I’ve made on them last year being in the schools a little bit. I have a lot of them wanting to come up and give me a fist bump here and there.”

When asked why he wanted to take this position Golden responded, “I thought that I could make a big difference with the kids just by interacting with them. More so than doing real enforcement actions of the schools. Just to try and be around and give them some positive interactions with us.”

When sharing what kind of impact, he hopes to have in the schools Golden said, “The impact that I really hope to have is if I can kind of try to counteract some of the stigma that a lot of folks have with law enforcement lately. That’s the real impact I hope to have. Starting with the younger kids and just teaching them that law enforcement is their friend and not somebody to be afraid of, and with the older kids as well. Just showing that we can be somebody that they can talk to and some place they can go that’s safe it they’re ever in a bad situation.”