Wednesday, April 23 was School Resource Officer Mandy Strider’s last day at Manitou Springs High School. She is moving on to be Manitou Springs Police Department’s only detective.
As a School Resource Officer, Strider’s primarily job was to make sure that all MSSD14 schools are safe for both staff and students. Strider spent most of her time at the high school.
“It’s a lot of work around education and training about active shooter situations,” Strider said, “and making sure that all the officers in Manitou have keys to all the buildings and get tours, so they know where everything is, so that everyone knows what to do if an active shooter or their emergency happens.”
Strider was also in charge of taking any case that came out of the school. These cases ranged from higher level offences such as domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault, to lower level stuff like, people having THC, vapes or bringing alcohol to school.
Working at the school, Strider has gotten the chance to deal with a lot of cases from beginning to end, including getting statements and going into trial and believes that will help her moving on. “I’m not nervous, because I’ve been kind of doing the work all along. It’s just more of an official title now,” Strider said.
Strider has been working at MSHS for the past four years, and has had an impact on many lives in that time. “I’ve known her since I was a freshman, and now I’m a senior,” Halli Leonhardt (12) said, “She’s been around through a lot of tough times, and she has been very present.”
Strider’s main goal was to build trust within the community. “A lot of young people don’t trust cops, and they don’t like cops, and I get it, I don’t like cops either,” Strider said. “I am just trying to bridge that gap, so people can have a different understanding what police officer is.”
Students and teachers at MSHS believe that she has changed their views on police. “I’ve gotten to learn more about what she does, and it’s changed my opinion of police in general,” Gabrielle Waters, the high school media tech said.
Leonhardt believes that Strider has done a good job of making herself available for students to trust. “I think it’s important that students can come to their resource officers instead of being afraid of them,” Leonhardt said, “It’s important to feel like you have someone you can talk to.”
Griffin Saulsbury, another senior at MSHS, says that his time spent around Strider gave him a more personal perspective on what police officers do. “It’s cool to get to know what it’s like being a police officer. She tells me about different things, like different stuff that they have to carry, different routines they have to follow,” Saulsbury said.
Along with changing people’s perspectives on police officers, Strider also did everything that she could to support anyone who needed it and get to know them on a personal level. “My favorite part of working is helping kids who are in really bad situations get to live better lives,” Strider said.
Waters observed this care for other people during her time working with Strider. “She’s had a huge impact on some of the kids that really need her the most,” Waters said. “I think she’s built a lot of trust with all different kids from different walks of life.”
Strider impact is evident throughout the school, and she will be missed. “I’m so sad, but I know she’s going to be doing amazing work as a detective for the Manitou Police Department,” Waters said.
Leonhardt shares this opinion. “It’s sad but it’s good that she has this opportunity to move forward with her career,” Leonhardt said. “I think that she’s a really good example of how no matter what happens to you, you’ll always have people there who support you in different ways.”
