From Shadows to Light

PR Welcomes Officer Dade

Officer+Dade%2C+Prairie+Ridge+High+Schools+new+police+liaison%2C+started+November+4%2C+2014.

Leeza Trainor

Officer Dade, Prairie Ridge High School’s new police liaison, started November 4, 2014.

The Prairie Ridge family has recently adopted a new police officer, Officer Dade. This week, I got the opportunity to sit down and talk with him about his life before PR.

He graduated from Western Illinois University with a major in law enforcement and justice administration and a minor in communications. Then, in March of 2011 he graduated from the Police Training Institute at University of Illinois. After that, he had been working the 3rd shift, which goes from “9:45 pm to 6:15 in the morning” so transitioning to this job in comparison was rough.

When I asked him why he wanted to be a school officer, he said “I really enjoy working with kids, high school students especially.” He also showed off his sense of humor by sharing with me that “if you have something to talk about, you might be more comfortable talking to me about it, as opposed to someone who looks like they could be your dad.”

At the end of the interview I asked how the experience has been so far, and his response was “I like it a lot. It was a huge change of pace. Everyone in the school has been awesome, including the kids. I mean we did have to deal with some issues, but that’s just part of life.”

So, if you ever have an issue you want to talk about, or you just want to say hi, don’t be afraid to go talk to Officer Dade.