Behind the Badge: School Resource Officers Tony Woollen and Jeremy Shull’s desire to connect with students makes them more approachable and less intimidating

School Resource Officers Tony Woollen and Jeremy Shull kick off every Thursday morning with a flavorful tradition: burritos.

Before classes start at 8:40 a.m., they turn on the skillet in their third floor office and start scrambling eggs and cooking sausage to put in 30 to 35 breakfast burritos for any students who arrive before the bell. 

This tradition started in 2019 when a former student would bring burritos to eat with Woollen and former SRO officer Seth Meyer. After the student graduated, Woollen continued making burritos — and students started showing up and supplying ingredients like eggs and cheese to enjoy them.

“We had to get [a] bigger griddle just to meet the demand of how many kids are coming in [the office],” Woollen said. “We have so many people eating burritos in here, and it’s just a flipping blast.”

Woollen and Shull don’t want to be seen as “scary cops.” Sure, their job description requires them to enforce laws, provide criminal counseling and educate students or parents in classrooms or assemblies. But through burrito days, fist-bumping students in the hallways and supervising sports events, the two are able to push past the traditional scary police officer stereotype to build relationships with students.

“We want the East community to look past our [uniforms] and be able to see our hearts,” Woollen said. “And that’s probably the biggest thing that we do is we’re vulnerable with our hearts. We’re truthful and honest. And we have a good time being here every day.”

While on duty, the duo makes a point to have fun and connect with students along the way. Every morning, the two walk around the school to ensure that all of the doors are secure. But this task isn’t complete without fist-bumping students in the hallways and stopping inside classrooms to say hello. 

“You’d be amazed if you walked with us,” Shull said. “Every time we walk by a classroom, the teacher literally stops what they’re doing to say ‘Hi’ to us, whenever their door is open. Even if you don’t know us and we say good morning to you and give you knuckles, it makes people smile.”

Woollen and Shull’s approachable demeanor has made the SRO office — a place students can go to if they have a pass or during lunch — a welcoming space for mentorship and support. It’s always packed with students cracking jokes with the officers — and that’s how they want it to be. There’s no one in the school they don’t want to get to know, according to Woollen. 

Senior Caroline Townsend appreciates how easy Woollen and Shull are to talk to. Townsend started getting close with Woollen her sophomore year, and she loves going to their office to talk to him and Shull — whether it’s chatting about her day or asking for advice.

“[The SROs] are like father figures in my life,” Townsend said. “They’re people I’ve gone to with family problems or other situations in my life. They’re very welcoming, and even though they’re dressed as law enforcement officers, they’re still humans.”

Woollen feels proud seeing students who started high school making “stupid decisions” end up “making significant improvements” by the time they graduated. 

He remembers one student who started high school being involved with drugs and getting in fights. Through mentorship with the SROs, the student ended high school with “awesome grades,” started working out and stopped getting into fights or using drugs. Even after the student was done with their court-ordered probation, they still went in to hang out with the SROs because of their positive demeanor. 

“[Getting people in trouble] is the last thing that we want to do,” Shull said. “I mean, we’ll do our jobs. But that’s the last thing, we would much rather work with somebody one-on-one.”

Shull is in his first year at East. But because of the large amount of time he and Woollen have spent together, the two have become close extremely quickly — making them even more successful in their jobs. Shull remembers getting comfortable with Woollen on the job just by walking around the school together or playing their occasional rounds of golf.

“If we have to deal with something, he’s got to be able to trust me and I’ve got to be able to trust him,” Woollen said. “And that’s only built by spending time together. That’s the backbone of why people trust us, because we spend good quality time with each other and with them.”