Following former youth resource officer Marc Kelley’s promotion, Roseville High welcomed Nathan Hance as the new student resource officer. As he starts his tenure with RJUHSD, Hance aspires to begin by establishing a strong initial relationship with the students of RHS.

Hance hopes that developing trust with students will allow him to fulfill his role in guiding them through the coming years.

“I think [students] as youth and young adults is the biggest thing I want to improve,” Hance said. “I want to be able to help you guys, mentor the kids that want to come to my office to be mentored… but also to reach out to the kids who might think of law enforcement in bad light.”

Outside of fulfilling his duties as YRO, Hance intends to place his focus on increasing student involvement in the explorer programs – programs for high school and college students to gain exposure to a career in law enforcement. Explorers would have the opportunity to wear a uniform, get their own gear, go on ride alongs, sit in on dispatch, and would be able to go out of town and compete.

“It’s a really fun mentorship program if they are interested in that,” Hance said. “Even if kids aren’t interested in law enforcement, it’s a great volunteer program that looks good on college applications.”

Before coming to RHS, Hance begun his law enforcement career by being a part of the explorer program in Chico at the age of 19. He then put himself through the police academy before attaining a job with the Stockton Police Department. Now, for the past four years he has worked with the Roseville Police Department.

Hance believes that the experience he has built up on patrol will help him best help the students and staff of RHS.

“I’ve got experience from dealing with extremely high priority calls such as shootings and things of that nature, all the way down to parents calling just to say ‘hey, can you come talk to my kid who won’t go to school, who won’t do this,’” Hance said. “And I think that all of that experience is going to help me here, just with mentoring everyone and working with you kids.”

After meeting Hance as he first became introduced to RHS’ campus, freshman Cloie Bowers believes he will be a good addition to RHS.

“I think he is going to make a good impact on our school,” Bowers said. “He seems like a very nice person, so he is going to do his job well.”