NEW BERLIN – Last July the Unadilla Valley Central School District (UVCSD) signed a five-year contract with the New Berlin Police Department to have a full-time resource officer in the school.

The school re-hired Resource Officer John Lowe, who has been involved with the school since 2013. Previously the school had hired Lowe on a one-year basis.

“My job here at UV is to protect students, guests, and faculty. Their safety and security is my number one priority,” said Lowe. “If it came down to it, I would lay down my life for our students. That’s why I’m here.”

With the signing of the five-year contract, Lowe says that now more than ever it’s important for schools to embrace the resource officer program.

“Most faculty members don’t have the investigative experience that a police officer is going to have,” said Lowe, noting there was a recent occurrence at the school where vague threats had been made by a student. “We isolated everyone that was potentially involved in a matter of minutes.”

While Lowe is primarily a resource officer, he said he is still on call for the New Berlin Police Department.

“If the town needs me then I can go, but it doesn’t happen very frequently.” he explained.