The Piedmont Police Department (PPD) has appointed police officer Nicole Casalnuovo to the new position of Juvenile Officer. The position was created from a second proposal on how to apply for the $300,000 grant (now $391,599) from the California Department of Justice Tobacco Grant Program. Along with an additional part-time health educator post, the new proposal was approved on May 20 after the first proposal for the implementation of a school resource officer was voted down 4-1.

“We started engaging with the public and people had a myriad of different perspectives on [the proposal],” Chief of Police Jeremy Bowers said. “Because [the position is] a police officer, and depending upon your perspective, your history, and where you come from, people feel very differently about it.”

There was concern around having an armed SRO located on campus because of the possible targeting of minority students, the criminalization for school disciplinary issues, and the lack of a health educator part of the program, according to the City Council Agenda Report for May 20.

“Ultimately, we arrived at a decision at the end of last school year, where the school district decided that it was going to partner with the city,” Bowers said. “We changed the name of [the position] because I think there’s a lot of baggage with the name school resource officer.”

The PPD went through the hiring process over the summer and decided to go with Casalnuovo who has been working with the PPD since 2015, Bowers said.

“She really distinguished herself,” Bowers said. “She has a lot of outstanding skills that I personally have seen exhibited. She has great communication skills and, first and foremost, wants to work with youth.”

In accordance with the compromises made in the second proposal, Casalnuovo will be an armed officer housed off-campus.

“My role is an educator and a mentor however possible,” Casalnuovo said. “I’m not here to insert myself in any way that’s unwanted or unreasonable. I’m here as a resource. So [far], I’ve met with school counselors, administrators, and staff just to introduce myself. I have asked how I can be of assistance and how I can help kind of bridge the gap between the police department and the schools.”

Casalnuovo said she is mainly starting with parent education, but she eventually hopes to set up a peer education system where current high schoolers and alumni teach each other and other members of the community, she said.

Her job will also include answering all calls from the high school, attending school events, and walking around campus trying to form meaningful connections with students, Bowers said.

Another result of the compromise of the second proposal is that the school will be using $50,000 of the grant towards hiring an additional mental health counselor, developing a diversion program, and creating a supplemental health educator position, superintendent Randall Booker said. The health educator would assess which CA health standards are being addressed in our community and work to develop a more cohesive health education plan. The diversion program would allow the district to provide help to students found using controlled substances on campus instead of expelling them.

“[The counselor and I will be] working in conjunction with each other,” Casalnuovo said. “[The counselor is] going to be another ally that I can work with at the school.”

Although these compromises have been made, some students still are against having a Juvenile Officer, said MHS and PHS ASB member Junior Ang Lee.

“There are some people at Millennium who genuinely wouldn’t feel comfortable going to school if they knew that there was a firearm on campus,” Ang Lee said.

Many students also are against the officer coming from a predetermined position of authority, Lee said.

“Police can try to tell students how to be safe but oftentimes I think students aren’t going to be as receptive to that because they’re an authority figure,” junior Athene La Jeunesse said.

Because the juvenile officer is an authority figure who is armed while on campus, La Jeunesse does not think there is any way that the officer can successfully form connections with students and address tobacco usage. However, she does understand the idea behind the position, she said.

“I do recognize that the administration is trying to promote safe sex and drug education,” La Jeunesse said. “And I think those are important things for students to learn about. I just do not think it is an effective way to get kids to learn because of [the] imbalance of power.”

Casalnuovo said she is looking to be a mentor instead of an authoritative figure but also understands the concern over there being an armed officer on campus, even though she is housed in the PPD.

“That’s actually a good concern,” Casalnuovo said. “But when officers are called to campus, they’re going to be armed either way.”

Casalnuovo said that before she became a police officer 15 years ago, she never would have imagined carrying a gun, but after years of training, she has a different perspective.

“For me, it’s a tool I can use to help keep people safe,” Casalnuovo said. “It’s never going to be used in any negligent manner. I don’t take it out of my holster for any reason. But I understand that it’s a concern – especially now. Think about the mass shootings we’ve had in the month of October, August, alone. But my role centers more around being a protector. So if I’m there and I am armed, I’m able to address a threat faster than somebody that doesn’t have that tool available to them.”

Above all, Casalnuovo wants to be a source of support, she said. Her goal is to act as a buffer, preventing all Piedmont students from being entered into the juvenile system.

“I know it’s not always a cool idea to go call a cop, but I am available all the time,” she said. “It can be anonymous, it can be for whatever reason, but I want to be a mentor. I want to be somebody that can be used in whatever way necessary and appear as whoever you need me to be.”

She also understands that bridging the gap between the police department and the district is going to take a lot of time and hard work, she said.

“So I hope that we can grow step by step,” she said. “I know that’s a big goal, but [I hope we can] learn to trust each other.”