Mesquite ISD continues to look for ways to expand its career and technical education (CTE) offerings
The latest expansion includes the addition of a law enforcement class at North Mesquite High School.
The new class is led by retired Mesquite police officer Greg White, who is in his first year of teaching. Although he is new to teaching, White has familiarity with North Mesquite, having previously its school resource officer.
“Being in the classroom and around the kiddos, I always had it in the back of my mind it would be cool to teach later on,” he said.
It was a natural fit for White so he got his alternative teaching certificate and was hired by MISD.
“It’s been a great experience,” he added.
Retired Mesquite police officer Ronald Krajca is in his third year teaching law enforcement at Mesquite High School, after retiring from the Mesquite Police Department following 30 years of service.
As police departments struggle to fill vacancies, exposing high school students to the profession can allow those who are interested to learn about the career and decided if it is for them.
“I think it’s real important. We even try and get them into the lower levels like a dispatcher or detention officer,” he said.
Krajca has seen the success of the course with one of his former students, Christian Gomez, gaining employment as a detention officer at the Mesquite jail.
“He graduated in June and we got him into there in July. We helped him do all his paperwork and they got his background check done. Now he’s working there making a good salary straight out of college. It’s going to give him a step up towards becoming an officer,” Krajca said.
Gomez wants to become a police officer, and the class helped solidify his career path, and taught him more about the profession.
[su_quote cite=”Christian Gomez”]“It gave me a better insight into what the police duties are, and what they do,”[/su_quote]
Gomez’s path to becoming an officer is familiar to Krajca because he also started as a detention officer when he graduated from Mesquite High prior to becoming an officer. He thinks the exposure to the lower levels will help potential police officer candidates decide if they can really do the job.
“If they want to do it that way, it can be done that way,” he said.
White, who at one point did background investigations for the MPD, believes the early exposure can help people determine whether the profession is really for them, which in the long run saves the police department wasted time resources and money, and the police officer candidate from wasting their time.
“A lot of times if they had a clean background, we had no reason to discontinue them from the process. When they got in there and the real stuff started happening they realized it wasn’t what they thought it was going to be because they had no exposure to it before. With these kids, I am making a point to them about it by giving them things to see and to know so they can make a good decision,” he said.
He hopes as the law enforcement programs continue to expand within the school districts they will increase the pool of good applicants for police departments.
“Of the applicants we would typically get, we’d only hire one or two percent. Hopefully this will increase that number,” White said.
Some students they like that the district has hired people who have worked in the profession to teach them about it.
“I’d rather learn from someone who has done it than from someone who has no clue what they are talking about,” said Erik Laird, a junior at North Mesquite High School.
His instructor, White, spent 28-years in law enforcement.
[su_pullquote align=”right”]“I’d rather learn from someone who has done it than from someone who has no clue what they are talking about.” — Erik Laird, a junior at NMHS[/su_pullquote]
“To be able to teach something you did for that long is a plus, especially with the kids. They love stories, so to be able to apply that personal experience towards it makes it interesting,” White said.
Laird decided to take the class to fill out his schedule because it looked interesting. He has been in ROTC for three years and has plans to enlist in the military upon graduation.
Course curriculum
The law enforcement course covers a wide array of topics within law enforcement. It starts with a history of the profession, which dates back to ancient Egypt. It then transitions to discussion about the laws and how they are enforced. MISD has dispatch station set up that allows the students to see how a dispatch station works within the framework of a police department. Some of the classes will involve some hands-on demonstrations, such as handcuffing.
“Education has changed a lot. You have to have activities to keep them engaged. Lecture is a small thing. I don’t go over 14-15 minutes at a time. I will take a break and come back to it later,” Krajca said.
The ability to bring in guest speakers allows the class to continue to give the students a firsthand account of various subject matter including the court side of law enforcement, which both instructors admit is not their area of expertise.
“We do a lot of guest speakers, so they can see what they people on the street do. It’s not all about what you see on TV,” Krajca said.