Officers in schools program wins praise

Besides visiting classes to talk about safety and what a police officer does, the SROs have improved traffic plans for student pickup and dropoff. One also helped when an Alzheimer's patient wandered onto a campus by taking the person home and staying with them until help arrived, Mylett said.

He said compliance with the law against texting in school zones also has improved dramatically at all the CISD campuses.

SROs also are getting involved in extra activities like parades, he said.

The veteran officers' experience is an asset to the department, Mylett said.

"The officers are fully engaged," he said. "We are already seeing them mentoring some of our officers. They have been welcomed into the fold and it has been very, very positive."