Officer John Johnson

Officer John Johnson has been a police officer for three years and says that he couldn’t imagine himself doing anything else.
“I chose to become a police officer because I wanted to be able to go to work everyday and at least try to make a difference,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he has worked with children as a support specialist in social services and as a self defense instructor, but this is the first time he has been around so many children at once. The biggest challenge Johnson said was getting to know all of the students.
“I want to become a go-to person, not just when they are having problems or issues but just someone that the kids want to come and talk to in the hallway. I think that’s the most important thing,” Johnson said.
Throughout his first year at Paola, Johnson said he wants to play everything by ear and figure out students’ expectations of him.
“First and foremost my door is going to be open, I am always going to be available and approachable,” Johnson said.
Being surrounded by an entirety of positive energy for the most part of the day is one thing that separated and surprised Johnson from his job as a police officer to also being the district’s student resources officer.
“A lot of the time as a police officer you are dealing with things from a reactive position, if people are calling the police it is not because they are having a good day,” Johnson said.
The traffic Johnson sees go by his office each day has been of an overall genuine, upbeat and energetic vibe. Johnson said that he sees so many students that are passionate and enthusiastic about the clubs and sports that they are participating in or about different events that are coming up.
“School has been going on for a week, and that’s not an energy that I am used to working in patrol. It can be kind of infectious,” Johnson said.
Johnson said the most difficult part of his new job is figuring out a way to communicate; not only with faculty and staff, but with all of the different students and their parents as well.
“There are a lot of different people that you have to foster a working relationship with,” Johnson said. “You have to keep your lines of communication really open.”
The main change Johnson wants to see in schools and students is their outlook on law enforcement. Johnson said he believes it is easy for people to swayed by the media and be quick to make judgments about police officers.
“I would like to foster a good relationship with young people and let them see that police officers are just people like everybody else; we just have a different job,” Johnson said.