Lakeport Police Department and Lakeport Unified School District announce new school resource officer
- Lake County News reports
- Posted On
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A new school resource officer has been selected to serve the Lakeport Unified School District.
District officials along with the Lakeport Police Department announced the assignment of Officer Ryan Cooley as the district’s new school resource officer.
Officer Cooley is succeeding Officer Victor Rico who has served as the school resource officer for the past three years and recently was promoted to an investigator position at the Lakeport Police Department.
The department said Officer Rico will continue to support the district by teaching the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program, or DARE, for the remainder of this school year.
Before being assigned this week, Officer Cooley – who joined the department in July after serving with the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office – completed a state certified campus law enforcement training course and will officially begin his duties at Lakeport Unified on Thursday, Oct. 17.
The school resource officer program continues to be possible due to a partnership between the Lakeport Unified School District Board and the Lakeport City Council, with Lakeport Unified providing the majority of the funding.
“We appreciate the support and commitment of this program from the city and school board,” Lakeport Police Department Chief Brad Rasmussen and Lakeport Unified Superintendent Jill Falconer said in a written statement about the program.
All involved officials believe that placement of a police officer on the school grounds will greatly enhance the safety of all students, staff and visitors on the campuses. Additionally, as past experience has shown, the officer can assist students and have a positive impact on their lives, school officials and police said.
The primary focus of the school resource officer program is to build partnerships with students, parents and school staff in the interest of keeping all of our campuses safe as well as guiding students toward making the right choices.
“We are confident that Officer Cooley will be a great addition to the district and we look forward to developing a strong working relationship with him,” Rasmussen and Falconer said.
They offered their thanks to Rico for his past service and welcomed Cooley to this new role.
Officer Cooley will cover all Lakeport Unified campuses and his office will be located at Terrace Middle School. He will also be part of the Lakeport Unified Safety Committee. He can be reached by phone at 707-262 2192 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Falconer and Rasmussen encouraged anyone having additional questions about the school resource officer program to contact the police or school district administrations.