DARE Leader Is Officer of the Year

He munches lunch side-by-side with students in the Simi Valley High School cafeteria, no matter what’s on the menu. He knows many of the kids at Valley View Junior High by name. He carries a badge and a gun.

And this week, he was named Simi Valley Police Officer of the Year by his colleagues.

Officer John St. Laurent began working with Simi Valley’s school system in 1985, when he was one of the first in the city to teach the DARE drug education curriculum. He says he still loves the work.

“[I like] the interaction, and hopefully making an impact on their life and having them come back from college and coming to your home and knocking on your door and saying ‘Thanks,’ ” said St. Laurent, 43, an 18-year veteran of the department.

St. Laurent, who has two teenagers of his own, has worked as a patrol officer, training officer, detective and member of the Driving Under the Influence Team. Now, he is working with students in an anti-gang program called Gang Understanding and Resistance Development (GUARD).

“He relates to the kids personally, not just as a police officer,” said H. Dennis Rast, principal of Simi Valley High.

“He knows a kid as a person, not by an incident--even though the kid may have been involved in an incident,” Rast said. “He identifies the kids by their strengths, by their likes and dislikes. . . . He’s not just here at school during school hours, he’s here at school during extracurricular programs, and that’s when he sees the students in their own arena.”