Officer Mike Camporeale walks down the Pascack Valley hallway and is greeted with smiles from the students. This is much different from what he experienced as a patrol officer. Instead of being around town, he gets to build relationships with students in a school setting.

Camporeale is the new resource officer at PV. A resource officer is a police officer that works in a school.

“My role is not meant to be ‘the law enforcement officer,’ Camporeale said. “I’m just here in case something happens. I’m the liaison between the school and the police department. If an issue comes up, I would be the guy to go to.”

According to PV Principal Tom DeMaio, PV did not have a resource officer last year because the Hillsdale Police Department was short-staffed and could not afford for one of the officers to be a full time resource officer. Although, they were able to send an officer to PV every once in awhile. Now, PV is able to have a resource officer because there are more officers available in the staff.

To be a resource officer, Camporeale had to undergo police training and be certified to work in a school. He was also interviewed by the school to make sure he was a good fit.

Camporeale started his career in Hoboken as a police officer for an all night shift. In 2013, he was hired in  as a patrolman in Hillsdale for four years. After, Camporeale was a teacher for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.) at George White Middle School and St. John’s Academy before he made the switch to PV as a full time school resource officer.

“[At PV] The people are nice, the students are nice, everybody is friendly, and everyone is happy to see you,” Camporeale said. “I am going to have a hard time going back to being a patrol officer in the summer.”

In about three to four years, PV will most likely have a different resource officer. The state typically wants a resource officer to start and end with the same freshman class to create consistency.

Camporeale will also help out with driver’s education and even in some history classes when discussing current issues involving police. During the school year, his schedule is similar to a teacher’s. He works Monday through Friday and is off weekends and holidays, but in the summer he is a patrol officer.

“It’s important to be visible and establish relationships with as many students as possible in the building. It’s another eyes and ears in the building for safety reasons,” DeMaio said. “He can give us suggestions on safety issues. He can see and hear things that are going on that we might be able to potentially stop.”

Camporeale believes that he is going to be helpful to have in the school. He is hoping that it will make students and faculty more comfortable when there are other policemen around.

“You never call a police officer if you are having a good day. People either really want to see you when they’re scared because something bad happening to them or they don’t want to see you because they are doing something wrong,” Camporeale said. “In the situation where someone is doing something wrong, I’m the the last person they want to see.”

He agrees that it is good to have a police officer in school because students and even faculty will be used to seeing him on a regular day basis.

“Officer Camporeale is just another resource in the building for us to learn from, to create a relationship with, and to make sure everyone is safe,” DeMaio said.