Fremont School Resource Officers (SROs)

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Winner of the Model Agency Award by NASRO for 2022

Our School Resource Officer Unit was nominated and received the National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) 2022 Model Agency Award. This significant achievement recognized our efforts at applying the principles of being a law enforcement officer, educator, and informal mentor. Our SROs remain committed to be responsive to our community’s concerns while continuing to deliver exceptional, professional service. Our team will continue to enhance our product delivery through recognized best practices.

Impact of the SRO Program

Learn about the impact and the importance of the SRO Program in the local community. Video published October 9, 2020.

Mission

The mission of the School Resource Officer (SRO) unit is to ensure a safe learning environment for students, teachers, and school administrators. This is accomplished by serving as a resource for students, parents, and faculty; by informally counseling students and serving as a mentor; by serving as a positive role model for students; and by enforcing laws on and around school campuses. The SRO works to prevent and solve problems within our schools and foster positive relationships between our community’s youth and law enforcement.

The Fremont Police SRO Unit is committed to serving our city’s youth by providing a safe learning environment for students, teachers, faculty, and community members. Officers recognize that the opportunity to foster prosocial relationships is very much a privilege and a sacred trust. More importantly, the Unit remains eager to continue our collaborative efforts with FUSD and our community stakeholders.

Our SROs attend the annual NASRO conference, which covers a variety of topics including school safety, active shooter, drugs, implicit bias. The training is the industry standard and best practices for school-based law enforcement. Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) representatives sit on the formal oral board interviews for our SRO appointments. The district also provides feedback on each SRO to our department on a continual basis.

Our SROs strive to foster positive relationships with our schools and our youth. Sometimes we are just there to hand out stickers to the students so we can cheer them up.

Position Information

The SRO assignment is considered a specialized position and is voluntary. When an opening arises, an officer can submit his/her name for consideration. The officer participates in a testing process, which consists of an oral board and staff review.

Requirements & Benefits

The SRO assignment is three years long with the option of two additional years. SRO's are required to attend school events such as football games and dances. Both the Fremont Unified School District and Fremont Police Department understand the value of this partnership. Many students benefit and form lasting bonds with their SRO because of their presence on campus.

Student Encounters with SROs

Over 88% of our SRO unique encounters in 2021 have been positive in nature. SRO officers are heavily involved in the promotion of public safety, assisting and mentoring students who are having a difficult day, resolving conflicts, and responding to campus-based emergencies. About a fifth of our SRP team’s contact (19.5%) do not fit into any category. Officers develop relationships which have no quantitative metric. It is not atypical for some of our officers to participate in push-up challenges with students in exchange for stickers, encourage them to have a good day, or simply provide a fist bump during passing period. Most SROs have an “open door” policy which allows and encourages students to come in to ask questions or just socialize. The SRO Unit believes the “uncategorized” category is an underestimate as to the investments made to their individual sites. The SRO Unit’s student contact as related to criminal matters is only 6.4%. The team has made a conscious effort not to be involved in school consequences or disciplinary action. Officers were involved with or admonished/reprimanded students in only 4.57% of its cumulative contacts. In the issuance of notices to appear (NTA), the SROs have advocated for diversion in lieu of introduction to the juvenile justice system. This has occurred in 100% of cases this year.

File a SRO Complaint or Compliment

Fremont Unified School District's webpage on policies, concerns, and complaints provides information on the 2023-2026 Fremont Unified School District School Resource Officer Program Handbook and process to file a complaint. You may wish to email FUSD Superintendent CJ Cammack or file a compliment/complaint with the Fremont Police Department directly.

To file complaint or a compliment with the Fremont Police Department, please visit our Internal Affairs/Professional Standards and Accountability page.

File a Complaint or a Compliment

Contact

Sgt. Richard Hamblin
School Resource Unit Sergeant
Email

Ofc. Thania Guzman
American High School
Email

Ofc. Kathryn Samayoa
Irvington High School
Email

Ofc. Tam Pham
Kennedy High School
Email

Ofc. William Malcomson
Mission San Jose High School
Email

Ofc. Rodolfo Pena
Robertson High School
Email

Ofc. Mike Gilfoy
Washington High School
Email

FAQs

Why do School Resource Officers wear a uniform?

Even though School Resource Officers are assigned to their respective campuses, they are full-time police officers. They are expected to assist in any emergency situation that might occur in the city.
Do the School Resource Officers get the summer off too?

The Fremont Police School Resource Officer program has the officer working five days a week. Any overtime they incur is put into a compensatory time bank which allows them to take off school breaks and summer vacation. They are required to work two weeks of summer school. If they choose to work through the summer, they are normally assigned to the Patrol Division.
How does the School Resource Officer investigation differ from school discipline?

School Resource Officers investigate crimes. School Resource Officers are governed by law and police policy regarding juvenile dispositions. While oftentimes school and police investigations will overlap, the school district has a separate discipline matrix that it follows.
Approximately $2.5 million dollars is spent on the SRO program in Fremont. Is the entire program funded by FPD?

The City of Fremont and FUSD have had a partnership since 1998 for the SRO program.The two agencies have a formal MOU and agreement to share the costs for the program.The total budget for fiscal year 2020/21 is $2.5 million. The unit comprises of six officers and a sergeant.The Unit is fully dedicated to the schools and handles all calls for service on Fremont school campus and surrounding areas if the call involves students.SRO’s also provide security at dances, graduations and sporting events as part of the MOU. For the 2020/21 budget year, FUSD is estimated to be billed for three of the seven positions, costing approximately $838,000.As a result of COVID-19, the City of Fremont has agreed that FUSD will not be required to pay for SRO services during distance learning and physical school closures when SROs are not physically on campus.
Are SROs trained on topics such as child development, the school to prison pipeline, and implicit bias when it comes to students? How are evaluations conducted on SROs?

Our School Resource Officers (SROs) attend the annual NASRO conference, which covers a variety of topics including school safety, active shooter, drugs, implicit bias. The training is the industry standard and best practices for school-based law enforcement. FUSD representatives sit on the formal oral board interviews for the SRO appointments. FUSD provides feedback on each SRO to our department on a continual basis and ongoing open communications take place between FUSD and Fremont Police regarding the program. SROs are Fremont Police employees and are governed by Fremont Police Department policies. Complaints against an SRO are handled the same as any other officer.
What kind of feedback has FPD/City of Fremont received from students and staff at local high schools about the SRO program? Is this information available to the public?

Principals at the high schools, as well as those we work with at the district, are in favor of our School Resource Officers (SRO) program. However, there were some public comments recently made at the Fremont Unified School District (FUSD) School Board Meetings that some felt SROs contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline and have called for the removal of the SRO unit from FUSD.

During the July 29, 2020, FUSD Board Meeting, information was shared regarding a general high school survey with 6,190 students respondents and a specialized survey sent to 30 African American students attending Fremont Schools. When asked, "Do you think SROs belong on FUSD Campuses?" 65.5% of the general public survey respondents are supportive of the SRO program and believes SROs should remain on campus, while 19.9% believe they should not be on campus, and 14.5% preferred not to answer. Respondents to the specialized survey received slightly different questions and gave their experiences with SROs on campus an overall rating of 3.8 out of 5, with 5 being the most positive, whereas their overall ratings for their experiences attending Fremont schools and experiences with school staff were lower at 3.1 and 3.4 respectively. Though these studies may not necessarily represent the entire FUSD population, we are excited that the preliminary findings suggest a very positive relationship between our students and the SROs. Overall, the majority of responders have positive feelings for our SROs and believe they should be on campus. At the same meeting, the Board voted (on item 15.8 Fremont Police Department/School Resource Office Partnership) to evaluate the SRO program relationship with the City of Fremont and direct staff to renegotiate the contract to allow FUSD not pay while under distance learning (The City of Fremont agreed that FUSD will not be required to pay for SRO services during distance learning for COVID-19). We look forward to holding further discussions with the district to improve our SRO program.

The FUSD School Board meeting videos and materials are open and available to the public on their website. We are not currently aware if the school district has published the survey information.

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