Generations of students counted on Simi's first resource officer
He wrote his own ticket for the job he's leaving
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers INSIGHTS AND INFORMATION- Simi Valley Police Officer John St. Laurent, or "Officer Street" as he is called by many students, speaks with Willie Wilson, 18, at this year's Apollo High School graduation ceremony. St. Laurent, who has spent 18 years in the Simi school district, says he has given advice to students who are children of students he had helped in the past.

It was the middle of the night when Simi Valley Police Officer John St. Laurent got a call on his cellphone. The young woman on the other end sounded frightened; she told him she was alone in her car and being followed.

The fact that St. Laurent was off-duty was irrelevant. He told the woman to go to a nearby Denny's, where he would send some units to help her. In the end, the brief scare was resolved without incident.

The young woman is one of many former Simi Valley students who've called "Officer Street," as St. Laurent is known, for help, advice or whatever else might be on their minds. The longtime student resource officer believes he should be available around the clock for anyone who needs him, so he gives out his cellphone number to students, teachers and parents.

BILL SPARKES/Acorn Newspapers THANKS- Simi Valley Police Officer John St. Laurent, who will retire in August after 30 years with the department, waves goodbye to students at the Apollo High School graduation.

"He's never away from that thing," said Lt. Greg Riegert, who's worked with St. Laurent for more than 30 years. "That phone is glued to his hip seven days a week, 24 hours a day."

St. Laurent will retire in August after 30 years with the Simi Valley Police Department, but even then, he said, he doesn't plan on going away completely.

"It's not an 8-to-5 job. I just feel it's my obligation to the community," he said.

The first of his kind

Since 1977, St. Laurent has held several positions with the Simi PD, including forgery check investigator, traffic officer and detective.

But it wasn't until 1989, when he became Simi's first student resource officer, that St. Laurent found his true calling. In fact, he wrote the job description for the position.

The officer, instead of spending most of his time on the streets, would spend it in the schools as a resource for students in the district. Before St. Laurent, SROs didn't exist in the community.

"It's always been a part of me," he said. "I always wanted to be involved (in the schools)."

Before becoming a cop, he coached junior high and high school sports. He was also always the "band dad" or "team dad" for his kids John, 28, and Michelle, 26.

"He's been in the schools longer than most of the teachers and administrators," Riegert said.

Standing by DARE

Before becoming an SRO, St. Laurent spent three years working with DARE, an experience that's given him a frame of reference when it comes to the current debate over the effectiveness of the anti-drug program.

"Some people might say DARE is a questionable program, but I've seen it over and over again . . . people who come up to me saying, 'Thanks for what you did,'" St. Laurent said.

According to Riegert, complaints about DARE usually originate from the impossibility of being able to "quantify the results." It's hard to prove exactly how many students were prevented from becoming gang members or druggies, he said.

Nevertheless, St. Laurent said, he knows the program works. Several students, now in their 30s, have expressed their gratitude for what he did with DARE and the DARE summer camps, he said.

"The thing about DARE and (student resource officers) is having the proper people in place to teach and work the position," he said.

Still on call

St. Laurent's impact in the community has been so strong that many of his former students go to him for marriage advice or to invite him to their weddings or baby showers.

Some are now police officers, doctors or lawyers. Others, once troubled youths themselves, bring their own kids to him for support, he said.

School administrators, like Apollo High Principal Tracy Rohlfing, have often called St. Laurent directly instead of going through a dispatcher when there's a disturbance on campus. Her reason: Students trust him.

"The kids show him respect because he shows them respect," Rohlfing said. "He's built a lot of relationships with the students."

Martha Iraheta, 16, has known St. Laurent for nearly three years. She met him through her older brother when she was attending Simi High. Now that she's at Apollo, she still sees him on a regular basis.

"He's just a cool guy to talk to," Martha said. "He helped me get through a lot of stuff emotionally."

Though their original meeting was meant to help her older brother get out of trouble, Martha said, St. Laurent has also helped her "keep a positive attitude." The officer is very easy to talk to and is always looking for the best solution for any problem a student might have, she said.

Street smarts

One of "Officer Street's" primary concerns in the early '90s, soon after he became an SRO, was the school district's growing graffiti problem. He educated teachers and administrators about the problem and set up ways to identify those doing the tagging.

His job has changed with the times over almost two decades, St. Laurent said. With the advent of instant mass communication, such as the Internet and text messaging, his work has become more complicated.

Nowadays, if there's a disturbance or a fight, the kids can text message each other. A crowd of 50 kids could easily turn into a crowd of 200, making it more important for him to stay a step ahead, he said.

Despite his ever-changing job description, there's at least one thing about St. Laurent that's held fast since the early days of his career: his nickname.

When St. Laurent was still a patrol officer years ago, his partner at the time, Lt. Gordon Weeks, had trouble saying his name. As they drove through the city, Weeks looked up at a street sign and decided that the "St." could just mean "street." The nickname fit St. Laurent perfectly, since he'd already built a reputation as a street cop, he said. He's been "Officer Street" ever since.

Before he leaves the department, St. Laurent and his partner, Officer Arnold Baynard, will be training his replacement.

Though Riegert says that the candidate will have "big shoes to fill," St. Laurent is confident that his successor will do just as good a job.

"I just feel sorry for the next officer that gets my phone," he said, laughing.