The Washoe County School District has a new school police chief. Seana Baker was officially sworn into the position on Tuesday.
She first came to the Washoe County Police Department in 2017, serving in various roles including campus officer, patrol officer, sergeant, deputy chief, and now chief of police.
She also had 10 years of experience with another agency.
Chief Baker tells us, "My official swearing in was yesterday, and I'm very excited. I have been participatory in leadership for this department over the last year as the deputy chief."
She says her goals for the department are to be the most prepared and well-trained department in the region, and to better serve the students and staff in the community.
"We're really working towards partnering with our regional agencies to heighten our level of emergency response within the region, because we are very fortunate to have other agencies responding along with us in the event of a major incident,"Â Baker said.
With the brand new school year, they are excited to get started.
Chief Baker says they really want to focus on the "Safe Routes to School" program for traffic safety.
"We have a strong program right now, but we're trying to bolster that program and bring more light around it," she said. "So we'll be doing a lot more media releases and things like that for awareness on safety."
They also have some new changes for the school year, such as implementing officers at middle schools to bolster safety and get to know the kids, so when the students get into high school, they can have better relationships with officers at the schools.
"It is a partnership at home and in the schools," said Baker. "We work with our administrators closely. We want to work with our families closely. If you ever have any questions, please feel free to reach out. See something, say something. If there's something suspicious around a school, please say something so we can investigate to make sure that our students and staff are remaining safe."
