RRPD school resource officers recieve St. Nicholas award

RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho Police Department school resource unit received an award for their commitment to service at the St. Thomas Aquinas School St. Nicholas Gala.

“We are so grateful to the School Resource Unit of the RRPD for their service to our community. The School Resource Unit keeps our students safe and provides educational assistance such as cyber safety lessons for our middle school students. Thank you for your continued dedication to our school and students,” the school stated in a social media post.

One of the officers says the award came from the unit’s outreach.

“We do a lot of outreach with our SRO program, mostly the officers. They do a fantastic job, they teach D.A.R.E. fairly regularly. We’ll do bullying presentations, and we do walk-throughs with them all the time, anytime they request anything from us. I mean, it’s something that we are there for and they just wanted to give their appreciation to us,” officer Jennifer Hatch said.

She added that the gala itself was fun and officers had a good time.

“I think the guys do so much work in the schools that people don’t see, and it’s hard to quantify the difference that they’re making in these kids, because you can’t always put a number or statistic on something. So it’s nice for them to be recognized for the work that they’re doing, and they’re doing an incredible job,” Hatch said.

For more information, visit dare.org.