BUENA PARK : Officer Goes to School to Keep Peace

Standing outside Buena Park High School, Officer Bob Mote watched as students returned from the Donut House and Burger Town, two of the popular noontime hangouts.

His black-and-white patrol car, jokingly called “Shamu,” was strategically parked out front so that all who wandered by could clearly see it.

“We do have an occasional problem with outside people coming onto campus,” Mote said while waiting for the lunch bell to ring. “Sometimes they are ex-students or students who have been expelled or just some of the kids’ friends.”

Since school started, it has been Mote’s job to chase away potential trespassers and generally keep order. He is one of two officers recently assigned to the school as part of the city’s new officer resource program.

Intended as an extension of the district’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program, the Police Department assigned Mote to spend a four-hour shift wandering the school’s halls, talking to students and riding around nearby neighborhoods.

“When we were growing up, the only time anybody interacted with police officers is when they were in trouble,” Mote said. “We are here to be highly visible, to get to know the kids and to prevent problems.”

While tensions are boiling over on other campuses, including the incidents last week in which students clashed at Westminster High School, Buena Park has not had any serious problems, besides the occasional teen-age fight or spats with teachers, according to police officials.

Principal Christine Hoffman said school officials decided that having an officer on campus would be a good preventive measure against troubles now plaguing some schools. So she approached the city last year about jointly funding the officers.

“We didn’t bring the individual officer on campus because of crime on campus,” Hoffman said. “We see it as bringing (in) another outside agency as a resource for the students.”

Although her request was turned down by the city because of budget restraints, Hoffman managed to muster enough state and district funds to support the program on a part-time basis. The school was not able to implement the entire DARE program this year, but Hoffman said school officials are looking into grants and other sources of income to fund it.

In the meantime, officials have put together an interim plan that gets the officers involved in everything from teaching about juvenile law to attending the weekly football games.

For now, though, Mote and his partner are busy getting to know the more than 1,600 students who attend the ethnically diverse school.

Most students seemed pleased that he was on campus. Sophomore Maribel Leon said that while there aren’t many problems at the school, she feels safer knowing someone who can help is nearby.

“I think it is a great idea,” Leon said. “What if there is a big ol’ drive-by or something? There wouldn’t be anybody here to help.”

But another student, 16-year-old Lorena Garcia, disagreed.

“I think it is stupid,” Garcia said. “Last year they just drove by a lot. I think that was good enough.”