The many faces of School Resource Officer Josée Smith

Story and photos by Koni Macdonald

Meet the new president of the Alberta Association of School Resource Officers
(AASRO)—Josée Smith—an enthusiastic, bilingual (French/English) RCMP officer, who loves her job as school resource officer (SRO) but admits she came to the position reluctantly.

In 1999, while working as an RCMP officer in Sidney, British Columbia, Smith was asked to work as a school liaison officer (B.C.’s equivalent of SRO). Her immediate response was "No. I’m not ready." However, as Smith explains, "After trying to convince me, Inspector Betker ordered me to do it, and it was the best thing for me. Betker was a great guy."

In 2004, Smith and her husband of 17 years, Mark (an RCMP corporal she met while training in Regina in 1991), and her two children moved to Alberta. Smith’s first posting was in Beaumont. She now works out of the Leduc RCMP Detachment, where she offers services to 15 schools in Leduc, Calmar, New Sarepta and New Humble.

Smith’s work is a balancing act that includes prevention, intervention and enforcement. Some of her duties involve administering the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program to Grade 6 students, counselling students charged with offences, assisting in school investigations, facilitating family violence groups and acting as the RCMP representative on the Community Solutions to Gang Violence; Youth Initiative Working Group; Leduc Regional Justice; and, Camp Outdoor Experience committees.

"I love working with kids," says Smith. "And I love my relationship with principals and teachers."

It shows.