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The beat goes on
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Aldish is in the school district five days a week. He deals with truancies, reports of drugs, thefts and fights.
For Struthers schools’ resource officer, for the time being ...
By Jeanne Starmack
Struthers
The schools’ resource officer is keeping his beat at least through the end of this year.
Officer D.J. Aldish, a city police officer who is assigned five days a week to the city schools, is staying on with the help of a $10,000 grant the school district found in the fall, said school Superintendent Robert Rostan.
At the beginning of the school year, the school board wasn’t sure how it would keep Aldish, though members all agreed: He was worth keeping.
He began working in the schools two years ago after the city obtained a $56,000 Justice Assistance Grant to fund his time there. When schools weren’t in session, Aldish worked for and was paid by the city.
The grant ran out this year. But Aldish is still able to work five days, with three days of funding provided by the $10,000 grant.
For the other two days, he’s paid by the city but his beat is considered SRO/juvenile, with him helping the Struthers officer who’s responsible for juveniles, explained Police Chief Tim Roddy.
He’s still available for other calls in the city during that time if he’s needed, Roddy said.
“It’s worked out to be a good arrangement,” Roddy said. “His being present down there does cut down on quite a bit.”
Roddy said it helps the police force, too, to have an officer stationed at the schools.
“It’s not every day, but we do get calls for service at the schools and he’s already there — we don’t have to pull someone from the road,” he said.
Aldish spends most of his time at the high school, he said, though he occasionally gives a stranded elementary-school child a ride home.
Otherwise, he’s dealing with truancies, reports of drugs, thefts and fights.
“If they need something, you’re there,” he said, adding that he also handles traffic enforcement.
Policing is a big part of Aldish’s job at the schools, said schools Superintendent Robert Rostan, adding that the district prefers he wear his uniform and carry his gun to make it clear that he is a police officer.
Struthers also has a diversion officer, Rostan said, but her role is very different.
Yvonne Wilson works with at-risk kids on drug-free programs, anger management and “making good choices,” Rostan said.
The grant the school district obtained was called a dissemination of information grant — federal money allocated by the state, he said, that the district used to pay Wilson.
It was then able to redirect funds to pay for Aldish, he said.
“Without it, we couldn’t have brought D.J. in,” he said.
Rostan said he does not know if the grant will be available again.