ROBSTOWN, Tx — It might surprise no one that law enforcement around the Coastal Bend is facing a shortage, just like other agencies across the country.
School leaders at Robstown ISD said they have a plan they believe could help fill the gap.
“I see myself being a cop, that’s a big dream,” J’ylnn Fernandez, a sophomore at Robstown Early College High School said.
Fernandez said her dream is to become a cop one day is because she admires the work they do.
“They save our lives, and make our community a better place for people to come and they make us feel safe,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez said ever since her and her younger sister were just kids, they would play around by pretending to be police officers.
“We were watching it, creating it, it was hilarious,” Fernandez said. “Like we didn’t even have the proper stuff, we would just tackle each other, mess around and then I finally told her, (her sister) I want to be a cop.”
Which is why Fernandez said she joined an academy for kids in the area, that it will give them the exposure to law enforcement at a young age.
But little did Fernandez know, a law enforcement program would soon come to her school.
“Robstown ISD has moved forward in their decision in starting an ISD police department,” District CTE Coordinator Benito Portillo for Robstown ISD said.
Portillo said he hopes this program will help the need for more people in the law enforcement field.
“There is that need, in addition to the need out in the community with the shortage of police officers, we felt like we needed to build a pipeline,” Portillo said.
The school district is currently working on a Jet Grant Application to help fund for equipment for this program. Students will be able to choose to go into this law enforcement program in their eighth-grade year.
Portillo said some will even be able to be certified in different areas once they graduate.
“The goal of the program is to certify students as 9-1-1 dispatchers or security officers level two,” Portillo said. “With those two certifications they will be able to get a head start in their careers after high school."
Filiberto Tagle, the Director of Safety and Security for Robstown ISD, agreed students would certainly be able to get a head start.
“You can’t be a police officer until you are 21, so it is just filling in that gap with learning the essential basics they are going to get now, then going to school, getting to the academy and getting their license and coming back to the community,” Tagle said.
Fernandez said she can’t wait to be a part of this program in the fall.
“It is going to help me a lot, because I get to see what the school is going to teach us and I can go back and tell my lieutenants and my captains what I have learned here, and if I can bring back more information,” Fernandez said.
Portillo said they hope to receive this Jet Grant for this program, but if they don’t, the program will still go forward.
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