“Hey guys. How we doing? What’s my name?” asks a New York State Trooper as he enters a classroom at Sodus Elementary.
“Officer Darryl,” the students respond.
State Trooper Darryl Boroughs or "Officer Darryl" as he’s affectionately known to his students is a Student Resource Officer for the Sodus School District. For the past five years he’s patrolled the district’s schools.
“Its his presence at school functions, the visual appearance of someone in a uniform who they know to be “Officer Darryl”, a guy we know, like, and trust.” Sodus Superintendent Susan Salvaggio said.
Salvaggio says “Officer Darryl” has become an important member of the Sodus teaching family.
“So much of the work that he does isn’t about crisis situations or about crimes being committed its the preventive piece,” Salvaggio said.
But “Officer Darryl’s” presence could soon disappear. Governor Eliot Spitzer wants to redeploy some resource officers at the end of the year to high crime neighborhoods throughout the state, including Rochester, as part of Operation Impact.
“If he's removed from our school then our immediate access to a police officer who can help us in a crisis situation is gone,” Salvaggio said.
“It's like robbing Peter to ay Paul,” Village of Sodus Police Chief Sharon Purdy said.
Chief Purdy says having “Officer Darryl” has been a godsend to her small department. Loosing him would be a blow to the entire community.
“Its going to really impact us because we have a very small force, so if there’s an issue at the school I have to leave the streets and go down to the school to deal with it where right now “Officer Darryl” is there on a daily basis,” Chief Purdy said.
Salvaggio hopes Governor Spitzer will reconsider redeploying the SROs. She says if the district loses "Officer Darryl" in the end its the kids who'll end up paying the price.
“I think the Governor needs to understand there’s nothing more important in school district to superintendents than the safety of children,” Salvaggio said.
