Police Officer Jason Langman is Camas School Districts resource officer. He has been in this position since January 2018 after former resource officer, Tim Fellows. He has been a police officer for 14 years.  Now, since he is fairly new in the position, he is still trying to find his place at Camas High School and adjusting to working with teenagers.

At Camas High School Officer Langman is trying to be proactive. In law enforcement, officers are usually reactive. Law enforcement employees get the call and then react to it then officers are done with it. They don’t get much chance to stop the call from even happening. Officer Langman said, “As a school resource officer I have been trying to adjust that, meaning I want to be more proactive…I want to be the resource part of it not the reactive.”

Education is one of the things Officer Langman is doing to be proactive. Talking with students about drugs, alcohol, and abuse. He is also reaching out with students and trying to make connections. Being a part of student’s lives and trying to understand them. He says, “There is a lot to policing than writing tickets or making arrests…you can have a lot of influence or a lot of resources on corrective paths or contacting students we need a role model.”

There is a legal restriction on what he can do. Probable cause can hold him back. If there is not enough probable cause, he can’t involve himself. Security guard Sean Tamura commented, “For instance, if we believe this student might have drugs on him or something, he can’t get involved until we have enough evidence to then tell him ‘yes we need a police officer’.”

Something he would like to be is somebody students can talk to. Not just a person with a gun, badge, and handcuffs to enforce laws. He would like people to understand that he’s here to talk to anybody about anything. He’s loving helping people. It’s his favorite part of the job.