PORTLAND, Tx — Students of Gregory-Portland Independent School District entered the classroom on Thursday for a new semester, and one of the faces welcoming them back was School Resource Officer J.D. Hinojosa.
Hinojosa has served as the SRO for Gregory-Portland for over a year but has been in law enforcement for 25 years.
A school resource officer is a sworn law enforcement officer with arrest powers who works, either full- or part-time, in a school setting.
“We rotate from school to school; for the most part, I’m assigned to the middle school. I spend the majority of the time here at the middle school," Officer Hinojosa said while describing his day-to-day routine.
"I see the resource officer position as an opportunity to be a mentor to the kids, to be available to the kids," Hinojosa explained. "A lot of times when officers patrol and they come in contact with kids, it’s usually because something bad happened. This is an opportunity to reach out to the kids and be there with them before anything happens."
Students quickly took a liking to Hinojosa, even adopting the nickname Officer Birdy. Hinojosa has embraced the nickname so much that he offers bird-themed stickers to students.
While students may be familiar with Hinojosa, there's something he's only recently shared with the community: his musical skills.
"In between breaks or in-between classes or before school starts, I might come in here and play the piano a little bit," Hinojosa said.
Hinojosa has been playing piano since he was 10 years old; however, he's not your typical pianist.
"I hear something, and I can play it for the most part. I only know how the keys sound. I don’t know how to read music. I’m not a professional," he said.
As the new school year begins, Hinojosa said he will continue to play when the opportunity presents itself, but his top priority is the students.
"Just because law enforcement comes in contact with a kid doesn’t mean that something bad has to happen. It’s nice to be able to talk to them as a police officer but not because they’re in trouble for anything," Hinojosa told KRIS 6 News.
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