After four years working as the Juvenile Liaison Officer for the Piedmont Police Department (PPD), Officer Hugo Diaz returned to the night shift as a patrol officer on May 23. At a recent Board of Education meeting, he received an award for his work as Juvenile Liaison Officer.
“I love telling folks at your age what their rights are,” Diaz said. “When I was a kid, no one told me what my rights were.”
Since PPD doesn’t have a School Resource Officer, Diaz said his role was to be the liaison between the school district and police department, making connections with school administrators, teachers, and students.
“It’s good that there’s someone there for the students to feel comfortable talking to,” said Police Explorer Advisor and PHS alum Lucas Chau. “Once they become comfortable with Hugo, they’re much more likely to be comfortable with other officers as well.”
Chau said that Diaz has done a lot of outreach during the last few years to connect more with students, which helped establish his role in the community.
“He was our second juvenile officer, so he’s still kind of building the program,” Chau said.
Chau said Diaz once stood outside the police station as school was getting out, competing with his coworker to give out the most stickers to students walking by.
“It’s just Hugo’s way of making the job fun and connecting with people,” Chau said.
Former assistant principal Erin Igoe said Diaz is very good at forming connections and working with kids.
“He’s young at heart, he’s really empathetic,” Igoe said. “He has really good emotional IQ, and can easily talk with kids.”
Police Explorer and sophomore Amalia Angulo said Diaz is a very friendly and approachable person, often striking up conversations and checking in with students.
“You can rely on him, and he’s there for you,” Angulo said. “Rather than being commanding, he’s approachable.”
Angulo said all the small things Diaz goes out of his way to do make a big impact on the community.
“The everyday little things that he does, like showing up to school and checking in, make a big impact in the end,” Angulo said.
Igoe said the connections Diaz built helped to create more trust between students and law enforcement, challenging negative stereotypes that many teenagers believe about police.
“It’s changing that kind of mindset,” Igoe said. “The police can also be there when [students are] not in trouble.”
Igoe said that having a liaison between the school and police has been very helpful for school administrators.
“When you have one [officer] dedicated to the school, that is super important for building that stability and security and communities,” Igoe said.
The Juvenile Liaison role is a three-year position, with the option to extend it to four years. Now that Officer Diaz’s four years are up, Captain Chris Monahan said his duties will be split up among on-duty staff. Any officer that is not on probation and passes an interview process is eligible to apply for the position.
