Certain Police Keep Eye Out For Trouble In 'Small Town' Atmosphere

Certain police keep eye out for trouble in 'small town' atmosphere

By JOHN DUNN
NEWS STAFF REPORTER

Like most small-town police officers who have covered their beats for a decade, John Devine knows every corner of his turf.

Day after day, Devine makes his rounds, keeping an eye out for trouble and stepping in to solve any law-enforcement-related problems he spots.

But there is an unusual twist in Devine’s story: The community that the 42-year-old officer patrols is not a town. It’s a school.

Devine is one of two Ann Arbor police officers assigned full-time to patrol the city’s two large high schools. Devine covers Pioneer High School, while Officer Tanya Padgett patrols at Huron.

Technically, Devine and Padgett are still officers on a good-sized urban police force. With school closed for the summer, they are back on general assignment with their fellow officers.

But from September to June, Devine says, he is in essence a small-town cop.

“It is like a small community,” he said in an interview in his small office at Pioneer as the school year was winding down at the 1,600-student high school. “You get to know the people. It is like a small-town beat.”

Come September, Devine and Padgett will head back to their in-school assignments. Earlier this spring, the Board of Education considered cutting $56,000 out of its 1984-85 budget by eliminating the police patrols. They began in the early ’70’s when local schools -- like others nationwide -- were going through a turbulent period.

But after students, parents and teachers joined forces to protest the proposed cuts, the board decided against the move. Padgett declined to be interviewed about the decision or about her beat at Huron High. But Devine said he was pleased when students as well as adults appeared at board meetings to protest the proposed budget cut.

“I appreciate the backing we got from the student body,” he said. “Evidently, they felt that ours is a needed position within the school system.”

Devine has made from 20 to 80 arrests during each of his 10 years at Pioneer. The most common offenses leading to arrests are illegal use of drugs and alcohol, theft, assault, or carrying concealed weapons. Devine also occasionally arrests a student on a warrant issued for non-school-related offenses.

He keeps a close eye out for illegal weapons. During the last school year, for example, he confiscated two sawed-off baseball bats, two knives, and a straight razor.

But he believes that his most important job is preventing trouble, not reacting to it.

“If I can keep one kid a year from getting into trouble, maybe I have saved somebody,” he said. “When you work with people for so long, they get to feel safe with you, and they know that they can count on you for help.”

Devine doesn’t go off-duty when the school day ends. He also attends most athletic events, plays, awards ceremonies, and even faculty meetings. “You’ve got to show the kids that you are part of the school, not just a cop here to hassle and arrest them,” he said.

Devine himself has a familial interest in Pioneer. One son graduated from the school in 1982, and another son who is now a student at Slauson Intermediate School will start classes at Pioneer in 1985.

When his older son entered Pioneer, Devine was a little worried that things might be tough for a school cop’s son. But his three years passed without any problems. “I thought he might have trouble, but he was just like any other student in the school,” Devine said.

Neither Devine nor Padgett wear uniforms while on in-school duty. On the day of his interview, Devine was dressed casually in green slacks and a striped cotton shirt, his gun and handcuffs worn out-of-sight.

The plain-clothes approach also helps the two officers when they are sent to tackle a problem at one of the five intermediate or 26 elementary schools in the district.

Devine recalled one case this spring in which an elementary school parent had threatened to assault a staffer at the school. Since he was out-of-uniform, Devine said, he was able to spend a day at the school without arousing curiosity among students. But the parent never showed up.

Devine is a 17-year Ann Arbor police veteran. He volunteered for the Pioneer post “because it was something different -- a challenge.”

Officer John Devine, who covers Pioneer High School, says he appreciated the student support the school patrols received when threatened with budget cuts.
NEWS PHOTO • ROBERT CHASE