Tiverton names new resource officer for high school

School resource officer Jacqueline Smaldone said she is excited to start working with high school students; it's an area she has long found rewarding

By Ruth Rasmussen
Posted 3/6/23

Jacqueline Smaldone, a Tiverton police officer with prior experience as a mental health professional who has worked extensively with troubled teens, has been appointed Interim School Resource …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Register to post events


If you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here.

Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content.

Day pass subscribers

Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.


Tiverton names new resource officer for high school

School resource officer Jacqueline Smaldone said she is excited to start working with high school students; it's an area she has long found rewarding

Posted

Jacqueline Smaldone, a Tiverton police officer with prior experience as a mental health professional who has worked extensively with troubled teens, has been appointed Interim School Resource Officer, effective March 10.

Smaldone will fill the vacancy created late last year when the previous SRO, Jacob Rapoza,  was placed on paid administrative leave as the result of a disciplinary matter that is still under investigation.

“My main goal is to keep the students safe,” Smaldone said Saturday. “I know there is a lot of stigma with law enforcement right now, and I would like to bridge that gap.”

Smaldone, 33, joined the police department in July 2021, after taking an unconventional path to her law enforcement career. She majored in psychology at Westfield State University, earning a bachelor’s degree there. That eventually led to a job as a mental health worker at Butler Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Providence.

She worked at Butler for seven years, supporting patients who struggled with a variety of mental health challenges. For three of those years, she was assigned to the adolescent unit in a role where her mentoring skills were put to the test. Looking back, she believes she was instrumental in changing the course of some young lives.

“I’d grab a coffee down the street from Butler and see kids I had worked with who would say ‘Thank you so much, I don’t have to go back there [to the hospital]’. That meant a lot to me.”

While the work was rewarding and it was hard to leave, she had been drawn from an early age to police work.

“I wanted to take everything I learned there and branch out into community work to help others,” she said. Tiverton proved to be a good fit because the department, under the leadership of Chief Patrick Jones, is increasingly focused on community policing and strengthening partnerships with the area’s mental health professionals, she said.

Smaldone, who was raised in Dartmouth, has an indirect connection to Tiverton, which is her father’s home town. Initially, she said, he was not keen on the idea of her becoming a police officer.

“As soon as I told him they hired me in Tiverton, his whole mindset changed. He was excited I’d be giving back to the town where he grew up. If I was working anywhere else, I don’t know if he’d be too happy.”

The SRO position was established in Tiverton’s schools around 20 years ago, and Smaldone will be the fifth officer to hold the job. Selection is based on seniority. At a recent public safety forum at the high school, Chief Jones announced that Officer Jessica Anderson had been selected for the interim position. Since that announcement, though, Anderson has had some medical issues that will prevent her from stepping into the role.

While there is a national conversation regarding the pros and cons of having uniformed police officers in public schools, Jones believe there are clear benefits.

“They act as a deterrent for those who want to cause harm. Their purpose is not to go into the school to act as a spy for the police department. They are a resource for students and an extension of our community policing tool ... School are places of learning and an SRO enhances that.”

Jones said he heard a “loud and clear” message from community members at the public safety forum that they want to see more SROs at the schools.

“When the new school year starts, some decisions will be made about appointing a permanent SRO…or two.”  Asked to elaborate, Jones said the budget he submits to the town council for the next fiscal year will include funding for a second SRO.

He believes Smaldone’s education and professional experience makes her ideally suited to the work.

“It takes a village to protect a village, so what you need are people with varied experiences…in mental health, sociology, finance, community development. All of those things are going to make up your 21st century police force. And Jackie fits that role to a T.”

 

 

 

2024 by East Bay Media Group

Barrington · Bristol · East Providence · Little Compton · Portsmouth · Tiverton · Warren · Westport
Meet our staff
MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.