Police officers are assigned to work in several schools in Kitsap County. The fully commissioned officers go by the moniker: “school resource officers.”

SROs are utilized by Central Kitsap, North Kitsap and South Kitsap school districts. Bainbridge Island and Bremerton school districts do not have officers monitor campuses.

To learn the duties of SROs, Kitsap News Group freelance reporter Mike De Felice interviewed Deputy Arianna Sivonda of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office. Sivonda, a seven-year law enforcement veteran, has been an SRO for the Central Kitsap district since 2023.

“I’m at the front entrance, greeting the students as they come into school. There’s a lot of reasons why I do that,” said Deputy Arianna Sivonda, school resource officer for the Central Kitsap School District.

“One is, I want to be a friendly face and be the first thing the kids see at school, and start their day off with a smile. I’m also looking to make sure nothing suspicious is being brought into the school and that people who are not supposed to be on campus are (not) coming in,” Sivonda said.

In addition, she is also looking at students to spot anything amiss.

“Do they have any bumps and bruises? Are there things happening at home that I need to talk to them about? Was there a fight at school that I didn’t know happened?” she said.

Sivonda seeks to build relationships with students. “They call me ‘Miss Arianna.’ I’m not formal, they don’t call me Deputy Sivonda or anything like that,” she said.

Her unpretentious manner encourages some students to come to her just to talk.

“Sometimes, they’ll come up and say, ‘Hey, Miss Arianna, I had a rough day. Can I talk to you?’ Then, they will come into my office and we’ll have a chat. I created a very safe space in my office. It’s very inviting, very…calming. I have snacks, treats, water and stress toys.

“They just will come and say things like, ‘Hey, my parents were pissing me off because they wanted me to do chores and I was upset by that.’ Or, ‘I asked this girl to Tolo and she doesn’t want to go with me, and I’m just kind of upset by that.’ Most of the time, it’s a lot of just venting. They say that I’m a good listener,” she said.

“I really enjoy having positive interactions with young adults, especially being a female police officer. It is common for female students to come up to me and say, ‘I didn’t realize that women can be law enforcement officers.’ After a positive interaction, someone might say, ‘If she can do that, I can do that.’”

Central Kitsap has three resource officers assigned to the district’s 19 schools. The district covers the deputy’s salary while they work on campus. Sivonda is based in Central Kitsap High School, but she also covers Central Kitsap and Ridgetop middle schools and Silver Ridge, Emerald Heights and Cottonwood elementary schools.

The CKSD has utilized SROs since 2016. District superintendent Dr. Eric Prince indicated the officers have been a valuable addition.

“Our SROs are an essential part of our school communities. They build strong, trusting relationships with students, staff, administrators, and families. They are skilled law-enforcement professionals, but they are also mentors, problem-solvers, and compassionate adults who know how to respond in any situation,” the superintendent said.

Bremerton and Bainbridge Island school districts had different reasons for going without school resource officers.

Bremerton – which has a history of using officers from the city police department as SROs – was unable to get an SRO following the pandemic because of BPD’s staffing shortages, per a district spokeswoman.

Bainbridge Island administration, meanwhile, felt its schools did not currently need SROs. District superintendent Amii Thompson said, “We meet student needs through a range of staff roles, including counselors, social workers, and other student-support staff who focus on prevention and restorative, relationship-based practices. Given this model, we have not identified a need for a designated school resource officer at this time.”

Sivonda wears the same uniform as deputies on patrol. She is equipped with a nine-millimeter Glock, taser, pepper spray, handcuffs and a body cam.

“Yes, the uniform is intimidating to some, but my job here is for safety and security. If, gosh forbid, someone comes in that wants to cause serious harm, I have to respond immediately, no ifs, ands, or buts. I need this gear to help protect everyone in the school,” she said.

Not all students are thrilled to see a cop in the hallways, she admits. “Some will kind of give me the cold shoulder, but they’re not disrespectful.”

SROs work in collaboration with schools to provide a positive and visible law enforcement presence on school campuses, per the U.S. Department of Justice.

School officers have four major roles, DOJ notes – to address crime and disorder in and around school campus while striving to employ non-punitive techniques; be an informal counselor by building relationships with students; be an educator about crime prevention, drug awareness and the legal system; and finally, to manage emergencies.

Types of incidents

Sivonda responds to a range of situations.

“Students have seizures,” she said. “Since I have a radio, I am able to communicate and get resources like Central Kitsap Fire & Rescue or other officers. I have direct communication versus staff having to call 911.” Sivonda is able to provide immediate aid since she is a medically trained first responder.

One high school student brought a water bottle filled with vodka and consumed it, leading to a case of alcohol poisoning. “I was on scene and was able to give them medical attention because it was very, very severe. They needed medical attention immediately,” she said.

There are times when students challenge each other to fight. “One student came to me and said, ‘Hey, this person wants to jump me after third period. Can you please help me?’

“Sadly, there are times people will report to me things that are happening at home that I then investigate and have to get (Child Protective Services) involved,” she said.

The deputy also investigates reports of sexual harassment and acts of sexual violence.

Reports of a weapon require an immediate response. One day, a principal rushed up to Sivond, saying a student with a knife was trying to attack a teacher.

“A special education student had gotten access to a knife from the kitchen and was actively trying to stab a teacher. Luckily, the teacher was able to barricade herself inside a bathroom. I was able to bring in the crisis intervention officer. We were able to de-escalate the situation. No one was hurt,” she said.

Fortunately, firearms are not a significant problem in Central Kitsap schools, she reports. However, airsoft guns – which are realistic replicas that shoot plastic pellets or BBs – do pose a problem. Students often bring these to school to show their friends. “These are especially concerning because they look just like real guns,” she said.

Police response time to incidents is significantly reduced by having an SRO on campus, Sivonda said.

“Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office is very short-staffed so depending on where officers are in the county, it might take two minutes, or it could take 20 minutes to respond (to a 911 call),” she said.

If she had not been on school grounds to immediately deal with the knife incident, which ended with words, there could have been tragedy, she said. “People don’t have the training experience I do. They might not have responded the way that I did and possibly escalated the situation. Someone could have been stabbed.”

In the alcohol poisoning case, if the student had been told to rest in the nurse’s station rather than getting immediate medical attention, the student could have suffered serious side effects, she explained.

“Miss Arianna” says she enjoys being a school resource officer and finds the assignment rewarding.

“I’ve had more families than not say that they are so grateful for my presence on campus. It is scary times right now. There are things happening in the world that shouldn’t be happening. To be able to bring a little peace of mind to families and students, I don’t have words to say how grateful I am to be in a position to do that for people,” she said.