When Jeff Upton, just out of college, began serving as school resource officer at Marshwood High School in 2001, most officers on this beat elsewhere were expected to arrest students causing disruptions or creating unsafe environments.
But arresting students and setting them on a criminal path wasn’t at all Upton’s intention. He believed an approach based on building caring relationships with students could keep these kids in school and make a difference in their lives.
Over the next 21 years, he would transform the role of school resource officer and help shape a new vision for this job throughout Maine.
Upton’s vision of transforming so-called SROs from punitive law enforcement officials to trusted advisors has landed him in a new job as assistant director of the Maine School Safety Center, a division of the state Department of Education, where he hopes to have an even larger impact on student safety and success across the state.
“Our jobs are to educate these students, not kick them out of school,” said Upton, now a lieutenant, during a phone interview Jan. 29, two days before finishing his 22-year career with the South Berwick Police Department. “I’ve always tried to support students to be successful, and sometimes that’s building resilience and talking though what’s really going on.”
Throughout his years at Marshwood, he became a friendly face in the halls, visiting classrooms, chatting with kids in the cafeteria or playing in the gym. He had an open door policy and students knew they could trust him if they needed to talk.
“The difference that Jeff has made at Marshwood High School cannot be overstated,” said Mike Aldrich, a 2009 Marshwood graduate. “Jeff knew how to interact with kids, all types of kids. He made you feel like you could open up to him, but he would also hold you responsible. You just knew that he genuinely cared.”
Marshwood music teacher and band director David Graichen agreed that Upton’s approach built trust with students.
“He had a way of connecting with the kids and they felt comfortable going to him,” said Graichen, who worked closely with Upton for 19 years on the school’s security systems and technology. “Having those normal interactions humanize a police officer with kids who have not had positive interactions with law enforcement. I don’t think I ever witnessed him coming down on a kid in an adversarial way.”
More than 50 townspeople, local police officers and town officials gathered at Town Hall Jan. 31 to celebrate and thank Upton for his decades of service. Afterward Upton headed out to his cruiser for his last official call of duty, with his family at his side and community members lining the streets.
In his new role with the state, Upton will lead a team that provides training, guidance and technical support to school administrators and teachers across Maine.
The School Safety Center was started in 2020 to guide school districts in managing emergencies, assessing behavioral threats, and increasing school safety and security.
While Upton is knowledgeable about school safety, controlled access and security, he is most skilled and passionate about assessing behavioral threats.
“How do you assess a true threat, versus a student who is just going through a tough time? You have to look at the whole picture,” said Upton
The school resource officer role has been transformed by his work at Marshwood and at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, the state’s police training program, he said. There, Upton created a two-week SRO safety certification class where officers learn how to shift from everyday patrol work to a school resource position focusing on relationships with adolescents.
Growing up in South Berwick, Upton got his start as a Recreation Department camp counselor in 1996, the same year he graduated from Marshwood. He continued to work for the rec program while he was in college at Northeastern University and the University of Southern Maine.
A criminology major, he joined the South Berwick Police Department as an intern in his senior year and was hired as a full-time patrol officer when he graduated in 2000. Soon after, he was appointed the school resource officer at Marshwood in 2001.
At that time, Upton’s relationships with local kids were already well established. He considered the role of SRO a natural progression from his work as a camp counselor.
“I had these high school students when they were seven or eight years old, in summer camp,” he said. “They knew I could be goofy. It helped them see me as not just someone who was there to enforce rules.”
Upton recalled receiving a message several years ago from a former student. The student, by then grown with a family and business, reached out to thank him for sitting and talking with him in the cafeteria one day over a decade ago. The student told him that had Upton not spent that time with him, he would have ended his life later that day. He wanted to let Upton know how grateful he was and how well he was doing today.
“As the school resource officer, you know the relationships you have in the building, but sometimes you don’t know the lasting impact you’ve had,” Upton said. “The fact that he wanted to tell me how he had turned things around for himself speaks volumes.”
That trust and his bonds with students helped him understand what they were struggling with and determine how to prevent or resolve behavior issues before they became a safety concern. He took this approach with kids who were bullied as well as with bullies.
“It’s not always about enforcement or punitive measures. I prefer to talk to them, have a conversation with both sides, and find out what’s going on,” Upton said. “I tried to see if I could get them to come to a decision on their own and ask how I could support them.”
“At the same time, if law enforcement was necessary, I would warn them that if they continued down this road, there would be consequences.”
Aldrich, the 2009 Marshwood graduate, first met Upton as a middle school student. He spent hours talking to Upton when he visited his father, a custodian at the high school.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a police officer, so I looked up to him quite a bit,” Aldrich said. In high school Aldrich interacted with Upton daily, learning about his life as a police officer. In fact, Aldrich joined the US Coast Guard after graduating and worked for over 14 years in maritime law enforcement and search and rescue.
When Aldrich’s father passed away at home in 2020, Aldrich hoped it would be Upton responding to the emergency call. While the school resource officer wasn’t on duty that night, he reached out to Aldrich immediately after he heard the news.
“Jeff is one of those people who doesn’t just say he cares, he genuinely does,” Aldrich said.
Over the years, Upton acted as a patrol officer, investigator and SRO at the same time. When he was promoted to lieutenant in 2022, he stepped down as school resource officer but became the SRO supervisor, supporting Jason MacLeod in what Upton referred to as “one of the most rewarding jobs in law enforcement.”
Upton hopes to continue with the SRO certification program in his new job and help the School Safety Center grow so that all districts in Maine benefit from its resources. “My goal is to support not only the students, but also the staff,” he said. “I want them to be successful in educating our students.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.