Meet SRO Adam Lamb
For most of his 24 years in law enforcement, Mason County Sheriff’s Sgt. Adam Lamb has described himself as a “running, gunning” road cop whose greatest satisfaction was hauling bad guys to the slammer.
But, for the last three years, the Pentwater native has dedicated himself to a quiet style of policing that helps safeguard the community’s most vulnerable citizens, its children.
Adams serves as a School Resource Officer (SRO) at the West Shore Educational Services District building, where its center-based special education program and a Reintegration Program for students displaying extreme behaviors are housed.
He also supervises SROs Luke Postema at Mason County Central, Jake Lesinski at Mason County Eastern, and David Barnett at Ludington Area Schools’ Ludington Elementary.
To be honest, there's not a lot of respect in the field of law enforcement for school resource officers – and I used to be one who thought that way." Adam said, acknowledging the reality that some street cops think school-based assignments are for officers who want to dodge criminal complaints and SROs are just uniformed babysitters.
“Now that I’m here in our schools, I know differently,” he continued, “I see that we SRO's are much busier than I thought we would be, and I see how important we are to safety and a school's learning environment. There is great value in what we do that people off-campus never see. ”
To be sure, there’s a lot of tracking down truants, confiscating electronic vaping devices, investigating classroom thefts, and helping treat injuries, but flashy high-speed chases, drug busts, assaults and arrests are rarely ever a part of an SRO’s work experience. ("And that's a good thing!" said Adam.)
An SRO's job description goes far beyond providing security to students, families, and school staff.
The responsibilities also include collaborating with school leaders and staff to provide additional mentorship and education.
According to Adam, the willingness to take on an expanded role is what makes SROs so effective.
They spend time with students, their families, and school staff and get to know them and the broader community, which results in a big leg up when investigating a situation or a possible crime.
Sometimes a trusted SRO is the only law enforcement officer that
students and their parents will speak to in an interview setting.
Adam with Andy Higley and Chad Skiba, Behavior Management and Safety Coordinators at the ESD
Adam's position and those of the three other Mason County SRO positions were originally funded through a Michigan School Safety Grant, but before long, state legislators shifted allocated monies to meet other needs.
So, based on the positive track record and the proven commitment to school safety, the West Shore ESD, MCC, MCE, and the Ludington Area School District stepped up to jointly fund the SRO program.
Through the years, school SROs have occasionally seen devastating or tragic situations arise and have quickly moved to summon help, give direction, assist urgent care providers, and support school staff in keeping their teaching and learning missions on track as best as possible.
Students and staff alike now consider SROs trusted and essential members of their various school families.
Not surprisingly, because of their high regard for their own SRO, MCE's Class of 2025 chose Deputy Jake Lesinski to be their featured commencement speaker last May.
Now at age 44, Adam chuckles that some high school-aged students feel so comfortable with him that they seek him out for dating advice. As a fixture in the hallways, at school dances, at big sporting events, he says he's grateful kids will text him or come up and ask questions.
He said students also enjoy it when an SRO busts into goofy move on the dance floor or holds up a sign at a sporting event that reads “Score or you’re going to jail!”
Adam is a father of two teen-age daughters and a 12-year-old son and is regularly invited to sit on school-based panels.
In fact, he has become so interested in schools, Adam is currently campaigning for a second term on the Pentwater Board of Education, a board on which his grandmother, Patricia Wilson, served as president for many years.
Adam's grandfather, Don Lamb, was Chief of Police at Pentwater for 31 years. Many other relatives have served on police auxiliaries, as firefighters, and as emergency medical technicians.
“There’s nothing wrong with being born with the desire to serve,” he said. "And the school SRO's I know all have this attribute."