Just in time for school starting, Sequim Police Department recently announced Daniel Martinez as its new School Resource Officer.
Martinez succeeds Kyle Resser ,who was promoted to patrol sergeant effective Sept. 1 after working as the school resource officer for three school years and as a detective in the summers.
Martinez started with Sequim Police Department on Aug. 16, 2021, after working as an officer for the Los Angeles Police Department and Bainbridge Island Police Department. Beforehand, he worked for seven years as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).
“(Martinez’s) work in law enforcement and emergency response made him an obvious choice to be the newest School Resource Officer,” Sequim police chief Mike Hill said.
Martinez is Sequim’s 11th School Resource Officer.
He is assigned primarily to Sequim School District in the City of Sequim during the school year with some of his day-to-day tasks being:
• Provide school-based security during the school day and assist in the promotion of a safe and orderly environment at the schools;
• Upon request of the principal and/or other administrator, assist the school with discipline problems. If an incident is in violation of the law, he will determine whether law enforcement action is appropriate;
• Assist in mediating disputes at schools in the city, including working with students to help them solve disputes in a non-violent manner;
• Investigate crimes or other school-related incidents at schools in the city and surrounding neighborhoods, make arrests when appropriate, and make the necessary notifications to parents, school staff and social service agencies;
• Refer allegations of a non-criminal nature to school administration for investigation and imposition of discipline.
Hill said few incidents have resulted in the formal arrest of a student and are avoided whenever possible during school and on school grounds.
Sequim hired its first School Resource Officer in 1999 with an employment freeze because of funding issues in 2009; however, the program restarted a few years later with a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’ Community Oriented Policing Services hiring program.
The position is now jointly funded between the City of Sequim and Sequim School District during the school year. It’s part of the Sequim Police Department Investigative division and supervised by Detective Sergeant Darrell Nelson. He said the position “allows the Sequim Police Department to better partner with our community.”
“Having a School Resource Officer and partnering with the Sequim School District advances public safety through community policing, improving public safety response to critical issues,” Nelson said.
“(It) enhances the ability to build positive relationships with students and develop strategies to resolve problems that the students and staff are affected by to reach our common goal of safe schools and safe kids.”
Selection
Martinez was one of three internal candidates and chosen after a review and interview process in February, including a panel with city officials and Sequim Schools superintendent Regan Nickels.
Hill said it’s been the department’s practice to rotate the position every three years with the opportunity for the officer to reapply.
Hill said they anticipated a department vacancy following the anticipated retirement of Police Chief Sheri Crain, and Resser being up for promotion to sergeant as it was his third year as the school resource officer.
“Knowing this, it made sense to have a new (school resource officer) ready for the 2024-25 school year rather than changing (the position) mid-year,” he said.
Martinez spent recent months attending required training and obtaining appropriate certifications to fulfill the new duties assigned to him, Hill said.
Those included a 40-hour Basic School Resource Officer certification hosted by the National Association of School Resource Officers, and a 25-hour Victim-Centered Engagement and Resiliency Tactics (SAI-VCERT) course hosted by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
For more information about the Sequim Police Department, visit sequimwa.gov, or call its non-emergency line at 360-683-7227.
