Ellwood City School District Police Q&A

This is Part Two in a series featuring the Ellwood City School District Police Officers.

EllwoodCity.org wanted to learn a little about the Ellwood City School District Police Officers. Find out what they had to say in this exclusive Q&A:

Officer Brian Speer

Q: What are you most looking forward to when working with youth as opposed to adults?

A: The goals of the Ellwood City Area School District Police Department is providing a safe learning environment, providing valuable resources to school staff members, fostering positive relationships with youth, developing strategies to resolve problems affecting youth and protecting all students, so that they can reach their fullest potentials. The program lets us work as a guest lecturer, informal counselor/mentor, and law enforcement officer where early intervention may keep youth out of the criminal justice system.

Q: What was the most interesting part of your SRO training?

A: Being trained in early intervention techniques to assist youth in making positive decisions and the consequences of negative decisions.

Q: What do you see as the biggest difference in being a community police officer vs. being a School Resource Officer?

A: There is no difference community-based policing and the school resource officers need to work together as a team. What happens in the community whether inside or outside the school affects the entire community.

Q: What do you believe is one of the “issues” facing our youth today that you hope to address when mentoring and conducting presentations in your SRO position?

A: Unfortunately, there are more issues facing today’s youth than in the past. Some have been around before the start of the SRO programs. There are also issues that our district youth may face in our community than other communities may not have to face. It’s our job to work with our school district, police departments, and local leaders to identify these issues and solve them. Some of the following include:

• Drug and Alcohol Abuse.
• Bullying
• Social media awareness and how everything that gets posted becomes part of a persons digital fingerprint.
• Vaping

Q: What is something unique about you that might surprise people?

A: I have been involved in Public Safety since the age of 16 starting as a volunteer firefighter. I have been involved as a 911 dispatcher, emergency management, hostage negotiator and emergency medical services.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: Automotive detailing and restoration.

Q: There are a lot of shows on television that depict police. Do you watch them and is there one that is your favorite?

A: I do not watch any of them. I find most are not a true depiction of a law enforcement career.

Officer Brad Koscinski:

Q: What are you most looking forward to when working with youth as opposed to adults?

A: I am looking forward to building relationships with the students so they understand that police officers are people they can trust.

Q: What was the most interesting part of your SRO training?

A: Learning the different roles of a SRO in today’s schools.

Q: What do you see as the biggest difference in being a community police officer vs. being a School Resource Officer?

A: The biggest difference is working with children all day long and providing full time security at the school.

Q: What do you believe is one of the “issues” facing our youth today that you hope to address when mentoring and conducting presentations in your SRO position?

A: Helping today’s youth understand how they can be more respectful to others.

Q:There are a lot of shows on television that depict police. Do you watch them and is there one that is your favorite?

A: I do not watch any police shows