PEABODY — Police Chief Thomas Griffin welcomed officers Joanna Kamouzis and Vincent Doucette into their new roles as school resource officers.
Kamouzis and Doucette will begin this school year replacing recently-retired Officer Manny Costa at Peabody Veterans Memorial High School and soon-to-be-retired Officer Daniel Jenkins at Higgins Middle School, respectively.
Kamouzis has been with the Peabody Police Department since September 2016 and Doucette since May 2019, Griffin said.
Capt. Scott Wlasuk, Lt. David Bonfanti, Sgt. Timothy Sullivan, PVMHS Principal Brooke Randall, and Higgins Middle School Principal Todd Bucey conducted interviews with the applicants for the two job openings before hiring Kamouzis and Doucette to the positions, Griffin said.
The aim for the SROs is to work with the administrations to help students successfully navigate school, he said.
“It is important to build the relationship between the community and the police department,” Griffin said. “It’s important to give back. As a police officer, every day you have an opportunity to help somebody.”
Kamouzis, who graduated from PVMHS in 2010, said she became a police officer to “make a difference” in the lives of those around her.
“I feel like I have a good personality where I can kind of connect with, essentially, anyone,” she said.
She said being a school resource officer has been a goal of hers for a few years, and she was ready when the opportunity came to apply.
Doucette was born and raised in Everett and said he also wanted to become a police officer to help people. He added he wanted to make a positive impact on kids’ lives.
“I had a traumatic event when I was a child,” he said. “I just wanted to make a difference in kids’ lives… Now I have the opportunity to, again, help children.”
Kamouzis and Doucette currently work the 4 p.m. to midnight shift together and said their experiences in Peabody have prepared them for this new role.
“I’ve definitely learned how to communicate pretty well, which I think will translate well over into the school job,” Kamouzis said.
Doucette said he is most looking forward to building the relationships between students and the police department.
“Maybe we can just help them better understand what we do on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Kamouzis said it’s important to her to become a “role model” for the students.
“However long we’re at the schools for, whether we’re there for a few years or for the rest of our careers, if we can help even just one kid, I think that’s a pretty successful thing,” she said.
“I’m just looking forward to helping out at the school and advancing my career,” Doucette said. “This is a big stepping stone. It takes you out of what we normally deal with, and it just brings a whole new aspect to our career.”
Kamouzis said she hopes she and Doucette can provide new “fresh faces” to further “bridge the gap” between the officers and the schools.
“I think they’re going to do a great job,” Griffin said.
