Aubrey Levin

Communications senior Valeria Rivadeneira interviews Officer O’Sullivan regarding his daily activities at Dreyfoos.

In all my years of student journalism, I’ve never encountered someone who was harder to find than Officer O’Sullivan. I went on an endless search to search for days, during various class periods and he was always busy, either conducting confidential investigations or all the way on the other side of campus.

My restless pursuit, however, finally came to an end when I cornered him by the student parking lot gate and interviewed him about his life at Dreyfoos.

Each morning, Officer O’Sullivan strolls in to Dreyfoos not knowing how many cellphones he’ll have to hunt for, how many trespassers he’ll have to stop or whether any many small plastic bags filled with suspicious substances will end up on top of his desk.

“Every day is a different day here,” Officer O’Sullivan said. “There’s nothing routine about this job.”

Despite the assortment of the responsibilities Officer O’Sullivan has to accomplish throughout the day, he knows there’s one thing he can always count on doing, and that is investigating the whereabouts of what he states to be the most commonly stolen item—cellphones. There can be a lot of paperwork involved in investigations, but he says it always depends on the number of witnesses present.

“Most of the time [it ends up not being a theft, rather] someone had secured the phone for their friend,” Officer O’Sullivan said. “I’d say we get about 80 percent of all phones back.”

Office O’Sullivan always starts his mornings the same way—by greeting students and fellow staff members.

While he enjoys seeing students as they drive in as they drive past the gates, having a guard at the gate is actually one of the safety measures put in after the Dec. 14, 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. After the incident, Officer O’Sullivan  met with principal Dr. Atherley and discussed a change in safety measures.

“Our number one goal is for the children to not only be safe, but feel safe,”

Officer O’Sullivan said.

Officer O’Sullivan, most commonly known as ‘Officer O’, worked at Jupiter Elementary for two years before coming to Dreyfoos in 2007.

“I went from working with a group of happy kids, to a group of happy teenagers,” Officer O’Sullivan said.

Prior to working at Jupiter Elementary School, he was a Sergeant in New York, but he left the NYPD before being promoted to a Lieutenant.

“I had a 4-year-old,” Officer O’Sullivan said. “I thought life would be better down here [in Florida].”

Another safety measure required for all school police officers is that they take a two-week defense course during the summer.

“We learn defense tactics, learn about legal updates, cultural awareness and sensitivity training,” Officer O’Sullivan said.

Among this training, Officer O’Sullivan learns about different types of ways to deal with bullying.

“[The worst thing is] when I see kids being bullied,” Officer O’Sullivan said. “Especially when it’s a freshman who doesn’t know how to deal with it.”

Officer O’Sullivan deals with bullying, theft and other confidential issues while simultaneously trying to help students and keep them out of the criminal justice system.

“I’d rather help people than hurt people,” Officer O’Sullivan said.

On more than one occasion he recalls having students come back and thank him for setting them on the right path.

“There’s nothing like helping children and seeing the impact,” Officer O’Sullivan said. “I love my job; every day is a good day here.”