BY AMY ADAMSON
[email protected]

Youth Resource Officer Carlos Cortes will be relocated from his position at Roseville High School after completing his five-year assignment, connecting with and helping students across campus.

“I really like working with the teens, and with Roseville, specifically with Roseville High,” Cortes said.
Sophomore Kris McGee personally bonded with Cortes during her freshman year when he approached her after she was dismissed from her class.

“I have a good relationship with Kris, and her mom, and I have been helping her, because she was new to the school,” Cortes said.

Cortes took McGee to the student services store and personally bought her a sweatshirt to and their friendship began.

“I got in trouble because I was talking, and I got sent out of class. It was cold out there and I didn’t have a sweater [because] I didn’t bring one to school,” McGee said. “He bought me a sweater. He just courteously gave me a sweater.”

McGee was first tempted to not accept Cortes’ help because of her struggles with law enforcement in the past.

“At first, it was like I don’t really want to be near you because I’m on probation,” McGee said.
With help from Cortes, McGee has been able to turn her life around and get off probation since that encounter.

“For me, with him around, I was able to get off probation and stop doing all the things that I was doing and block out everything that was going on at home and at school, because I still had him as a person that I could talk to,” McGee said. “So it was kind of like he was a friend.”

As McGee and Cortes’ relationship grew, she began to view him as a role model.

“So for me, it was kind of like looking at another idol, like somebody that I could look up to,
he’s a police officer, but it’s not like every police officer is out to get you,” McGee said.

Now, McGee defends Cortes and tries to help people understand what his jobs really is. She believes he is misunderstood by her peers because they don’t know him as closely as she does.

“When I see certain people that think he is out to attack, I try to comfort them and let them know that Mr. Cortes is not here to just arrest you, but he has to do that because that’s his job, if that’s what you’re giving him the option to do, but he really cares about you and he wants you to get off probation and do better with your life,” McGee said.

Since this is Cortes’ last year, there will be a new school resource officer starting next school year.
“I would love to come back, but it’s up to the department, they have to figure out who wants to put in for the position,” Cortes said.

Still, McGee wishes he could continue to work at RHS.

“It kind of does suck that he is leaving, because he was a really cool police officer, and I’ve never had any issues with him. I’ve never seen him have any problems with other people,” McGee said.
So far, principal David Byrd does not know who the new school resource officer will be, but is appreciative of Cortes’ service at RHS.

“Somehow someway we got officer Cortes a few years ago, and he has done a really good job,” Byrd said.

Byrd credits Cortes on his ability to connect and relate with students by not only being an authoritative figure but a friend to all staff.

“A good school officer needs to know when to be firm, but also when they need to be like a teacher,” Byrd said.