Photo Credit: CHEYENNE PINO
BY JACQUELINE QUINONES
Deputy E. Rivera has taken over as School Resource Officer for Cooper City High School replacing former school resource officer Deputy Robinson.
Rivera, a former New York City policeman and correctional officer, moved to Florida in 2002 with his wife and two daughters. He went from working in a jail to working the streets as road patrolman through the Broward Sheriff’s Office. Now, Rivera is at our school, the first he’s ever worked at.
“I love working at Cooper City High School.” Deputy Rivera said. “I enjoy being able to integrate with the students and work hand-in-hand with the administration,”
As a school resource officer, Deputy Rivera has a lot of responsibilities. School resource officers are in charge of breaking up fights, investigating crimes, counseling, patrolling and monitoring school traffic, making necessary arrests, and attending personal conferences, meetings, and all other school-related activities and events. Not only must a resource officer act as a protector and a provider, but also a role model. Rivera has been a cop for almost 24 years and he hopes and plans to spend his last ten years of service here at CCHS as a school resource officer caring for the safety of the students and administration.
“To ensure the safety of the school, I’m going to show persistence and approachability by being on campus and in the hallways every day, getting to know as many people as I can and interacting with the students and the teachers,” Rivera said. “The presence of an officer really changes students’ behavior for the better.”
