Officer Roger Langevin has served in law enforcement for 30 years, which includes acting as a School Resource Officer at St. Albans Town Educational Center. Officer Langevin has seen the whole spectrum of a career being in law enforcement, from patrolling the streets in his cruiser to working with students as a Resource Officer as well as teaching criminal justice classes to college students. 

When asked about a memorable experience, Langevin said, “One call I remember most is geese on the highway. I was called because cars were stopping on the interstate and caused a backup. When I arrived, there were cars stopped everywhere, and people were outside walking around taking pictures of the geese.” 

It wasn’t always as straightforward as the geese situation. When he was working as a Resource Officer, one of the things he enjoyed most was striving to make people feel as comfortable as possible.  “The SRO job is all about creating relationships with individuals and families from all backgrounds. We all grew up with our own challenges and we need to respect that,” Langevin said.

He added, “Knowing what is happening in our community with the families is vital in keeping a positive educational environment in our school.”

Officer Langevin went into detail about the importance of good relationships between officers and students and calming any fears or skepticism a student might have of law enforcement. “Having the right law enforcement person assigned as an SRO is important. A good SRO has ways of making himself or herself approachable to all students. Making someone comfortable can be as easy as having lunch with students, smiling [and] speaking in a calming voice. Seeing an officer every day helps most students overcome fears of law enforcement and establishes a potential lifelong relationship with the officer and law enforcement.”

While talking about a few of his personal experiences, Officer Langevin added that resource officers are an integral part of school safety. “It is important to have an SRO in school to prevent, detect and resolve critical incidents. Often, an SRO can detect suspicious activity or prevent an outside incident from coming into the school. All families have issues from time to time, some more serious than others. SROs can work with families to include students and work towards successful outcomes. I’ve made many home visits to speak with parents and resolved issues preventing larger potential school issues.”

One final word of advice from Officer Langevin for anyone considering a career as an officer is: “If there is anyone in high school is looking at a career in law enforcement today, I would suggest they work hard in school, have good attendance, be known as someone who is respectful of others and willing to help anyone in need. Law enforcement is all about helping people.”