Safety has always been considered a top priority in schools, and in the last decade, efforts have been made toward revisiting and improving safety protocols. Luckily, Royal Oak High is fortunate enough to have a school resource officer (SRO), a sworn law enforcement officer responsible for safety and crime prevention in schools, and who works closely with the school. The SRO is accessible to students and maintains a steady presence on campus. This year, ROHS has a new school resource officer, Antonio Lipscomb. This is Officer Lipscomb’s first year at ROHS, but not his first year as a police officer working in education. Outside of his duties as a police officer, Lipscomb is a father of two young daughters.  He also teaches martial arts and enjoys playing video games and  watching anime such as Bleach, Naruto, Demon Slayer, and Dragonball Z. 

Officer Lipscomb has been a police officer for nearly seventeen years. Prior to his move to Royal Oak, Lipscomb worked at multiple colleges, including the University of Kentucky. “I’m the liaison officer for all royal oak schools, whereas in Kentucky we had departments specifically for the schools officers. We had 6 high schools. 8 middle schools and 10 elementary schools.” He also has had prior experience as an SRO. Lipscomb hopes to ensure that ROHS is safe for all people, including staff and visitors. 

Lipscomb said that ROHS is very different from schools he has worked at previously. He’s noticed that our Raven community has proactively taken steps toward safety through diversion programs and Ok2Say. He believes our school resources, like lockdowns and nightlocks,  are very useful, but he also puts a major emphasis on students taking advantage of improving the school and utilizing their voices. 

So how did Lipscomb get the job? He applied for it! Much like any other job, he applied when former SRO Joe Yerke was no longer able to serve our school. School Resource Officers have contracts with the schools that require them to step down after a certain period of time. However, Officer Yerke is still around and Officer Lipscomb often calls him for advice and to guide him for the things that are unfamiliar in this environment. 

Officer Lipscomb is a very friendly guy who values respect more than anything else, he does his best to be friendly and kind but also believes it’s important to be fair and just. You can find him by the lunchroom on most days, so don’t be afraid to stop by and talk with him.