A School Security Officer Saw A Girl Acting Oddly – And He Knew He Had To Intervene Fast

Roger Caron

Roger Caron worked as a school security officer, keeping the hallways of Pascack Hills High School in New Jersey safe. For years, he worked as a police officer in Montvale, New Jersey. In April 2018, he decided that he would change his surroundings a bit. Rather than keeping the streets safe, he decided to keep the school’s corridors safe.

Protecting the Students and Teachers

Pascack Hills is one of two high schools in the Montvale district. During the 2015-2016 school year, Roger had 841 students to look after and 70 full-time teachers. The school first opened its door is 1965. Back then, the school was known for its state of the art technologies. They had foldable walls to accommodate classes of different sizes. They also had a computer system that made it possible for the students to select their classes. This technology was likely due to a $12,000 donation to the Montvale district from the Ford Foundation. Over the years, the school was able to keep up with the times. In 2006, they opened a second gym to accommodate all of the students. They also installed a new entrance to the school and a science wing.

Computers

Pascack Hills was the first school to go paperless and giving each student their own laptop. In 2007, they upgraded by switching over to Apple MacBooks as the standard. All the work that the school put into making the school better made it one of the highest ranking schools in the area. In 2011, The Washington Post named the school as the 62nd best in New Jersey.

A Safe School

In September 2017, the school department decided to bring in-school police patrols in to keep the school safe. They chose to use retired cops. They were already trained in safety, CPR, and first aid and they had full police powers. Pascack Hills wasn’t the only school to bring patrols to the hallways. About 68 percent of schools in America have a police officer walking the hallways. Since 1999, there has been an average of 10 school shootings each year. These statistics are what led the school departments to start putting officers on patrol to keep everyone in the schools safe.

A Controversial Decision

Some people believe that having patrols at the school isn’t a good idea. There are some critics who question whether or not having an officer on the school grounds can prevent crime. They also say that students are often criminalized by their bad behavior when the principal would have better handled the issues. After the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in 2018, where 17 people were killed, the President of the United States voiced his support for having officers in schools.

Proof That Officers In Schools Are Essential

For Roger, most days were uneventful. He would walk the halls making sure that everyone was safe and doing what they were supposed to be doing. One day in April 2018, this all changed. He was able to save the day thanks to his training and his knowledge.

Sarah Bazzini

Sarah Bazzini was an 18-year-old senior at Pascack Hills High School. She was a good student, and she planned to go to college to study for a career in law enforcement. For her whole life, it was her dream to be a police officer. When she was a little girl, she loved to dress up and play police officer. It was all that she ever wanted to do. It wasn’t her aspiration to be a police officer that put her in Roger’s path on that April day.

Lunchtime

Each day, Sarah would go to the cafeteria, eat her lunch, and then head back to class. On that day, she was in a hurry. She was a bit late getting to lunch, so she had to eat quickly and get back to class. When Sarah got up to head back to class, Roger noticed that there was something off about the teen. She was staggering while trying to walk, and Roger noticed that her lips were turning blue. At first, he didn’t know what was going on. When he suddenly realized what was wrong, he knew that he had to act quickly. A School Security Officer Saw A Girl Acting Oddly – And He Knew He Had To Intervene Fast.

Choke Signal

When Sarah got close to Roger, she gave him the choke signal. He realized that the young female student couldn’t breathe. Sarah was trying to eat her lunch quickly, and she had a french fry blocking her airway. It was stuck in her throat, and she was struggling to breathe. She tried taking a sip of her drink, but the fry wouldn’t go down. As she tried to get someone’s attention to help her, she was having trouble seeing. Her vision was blurry, and her body started to tingle. She was sure that she was going to lose consciousness. She began to calm down a bit when she saw Roger heading toward her.

Life Saving Techniques

Fortunately, Roger was trained for precisely this type of situation. Sarah was clutching her neck, and Roger sprang into action. He quickly got to Sarah and performed the Heimlich maneuver. In just a few minutes, the french fry came up, and Sarah could breathe again. When Sarah was able to breathe again, she was taken to the school nurse to be checked out. She was a bit sore, and her throat hurt, but the nurse said that she was going to be okay. It didn’t take long for the story of Roger’s heroism to get out. The Mayor of Montvale dedicated a post to Roger on the city’s Facebook page. Sarah says that Roger will always be her hero.