MDI Man Chosen as New School Resource Officer
Starting School Year Off With a Win
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BAR HARBOR—On August 27, a local man started going to classes where he’d introduce himself to students and teachers and tell them what his role in the school is and what it isn’t. That role wasn’t as a teacher or a staff member. That role wasn’t as a parent or a volunteer.
For Elias Burne what his role isn’t is just as important as what his role is.
The Mount Desert Island native, military veteran, MDI High School football coach, and police officer employed by the Town of Bar Harbor is the new school resource officer (SRO) for the three schools within the coverage area of the Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Police Department, MDI High School, Conners-Emerson, and Mount Desert Elementary.
On the twelfth day at school, Burne had to do what nobody wanted to happen—validating the credibility, or lack of credibility, of a possible email threat at the high school.
THE PROCESS
On September 9, at the MDI High School Board meeting, Principal Matt Haney announced that Burne had been hired as the new SRO and had already started working on the first day of school.
When Haney finished speaking about Burne, the interview process, and why Burne was chosen, some board members asked if Burne would be carrying a weapon in school and some expressed concern that the board was not part of the process or allowed any input before the hiring decision was made.
Haney had already described the process to the board telling them that he, Superintendent Mike Zboray, Conners-Emerson Principal Dr. Heather Webster, and Mount Desert Elementary Principal Heather Dorr had some pretty extensive conversations about what they felt was needed in an SRO and their steadfast assertion that just because there was an opening after Tim Bland’s resignation from the force, it didn’t mean they were going to have somebody walk into the door that was appropriate for the position.
The superintendent and three principals firmly believed that they needed somebody who was going to be able to treat this as a resource position, as a relationship building position, as a community building position, and not as a law enforcement position.
The interview committee consisted of Police Chief David Kerns and Captain Chris Wharff of the Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Police Departments, Dr. Webster, Zboray, and Haney.
“We went through that interview process and both of us were very ready to say, ‘this isn’t going to work,’” Hansey said, and that as the interview process progressed, he and Zboray were both coming to that determination, until they interviewed Burne.
“Elias really met those standards,” Haney said.
ELIAS BURNE
Born in 1994 at Blue Hill Hospital, Burne is the youngest of three boys born to Rick Burne and Bonnie Norwood. The family lived in Southwest Harbor from the time he was born until 2005 when they moved to Bar Harbor. His mother was teaching at the Pemetic Elementary School, where she still teaches, and after moving to Bar Harbor, he kept attending school at Pemetic, riding in with his mom every morning.
After graduating Pemetic, Burne attended MDI High School where he played football as a running back and linebacker. After graduation, Burne went to college for a semester and then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served five years of active duty as a military policeman in Japan and at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock N.C.
WHAT OFFICER ELIAS DOES AS THE SRO
During the September 6 High School board meeting, Haney described what a typical day for Burne has been so far at the high school.
Burne usually arrives at the school around lunch time and stays till the end of the day. He chats with the students at lunch, plays games with the students in the gym, answers questions, and has been helping as a guest teacher in a class that is doing a mock trial because of his real-life court room experiences.
“Officer Elias has been positive and responsive the few times he has visited MDES (Mount Desert Elementary School) since he was hired a couple weeks ago,” Dorr said.
Building relationships and trust with not only the students but also the staff is a primary goal for Burne. He also sees himself as a role model and confidant if needed and says that one of his goals is to provide anyone in any of the schools with another human being to talk to if they have the need or desire. It doesn’t have to be negative or important, he wants to hear anything people have to say to him.
“Elias has hit the ground running and has spent a lot of time over these opening weeks building and strengthening relationships with the students at the high school. It's common to see him engaged in games of frisbee or shooting baskets with students or just having a conversation about sports or weekend plans. He's been doing a great job of getting to know our school and the people who make it such a great place to be,” Haney said.
Burne takes his new role as a community and relationship builder seriously and believes that the SRO position is extremely valuable to the schools and the community as a whole given that the schools are developing our future community members and leaders.
“We are thrilled to have Officer Elias Burnes in the role of SRO at the Conners Emerson School. It has been great to see the positive response from our students as he starts to integrate into our community through assemblies, field trips, visiting classrooms, and helping with duties,” said Dr. Webster.
“In my opinion, it is one of the most, if not the most, important program that the police department has to offer,” Burne said. “I can’t think of another police department program that would measure up to the role of the SRO, if done correctly.”
WHAT OFFICER ELIAS DOES NOT DO AS THE SRO
Haney said Burne doesn’t do any sort of discipline as SRO. If a student is doing something that needs adjustment or correction that is up to Dean of Students Ian Braun or Haney. If a student has gotten into legal trouble, Burne is not going to corner them at school and interject that subject into the student’s school day.
Even a fight between students would be handled by school staff because, as Haney said, “we don’t need help with that.”
Burne is not involved in the discipline of students or any sort of law enforcement actions at the school, short of something major occurring.
Burne couldn’t say enough in agreement with Haney about this topic.
“I am not in the schools to be an authoritarian; I am there to assist the school staff and be a safety net in case of a real threat or an emergency. As far as criminal investigations involving students, that will not be handled by me. That will be handled by a different police officer, outside of school hours whenever possible,” Burne said.
The SRO’s weekly hours are served mostly at the schools with the occasional time spent at the police station for report writing, to check emails, and to stay current on what is going on in the world of local law enforcement. If Burne was to work an overtime shift or have any other occasion to come into contact with a student that required an enforcement action in the role of patrol officer, then the incident would be handed off to another officer as soon as possible.
Burne said that with the police department administration, he has already established a way of trying to prevent him from being placed in a role that is opposing to the SRO’s model.
“There might be times where I may have to intervene and if it is a criminal matter that needs to be handled by a law enforcement officer, I can make the situation safe and then call for additional resources at that point, but I am by no means in the school to enforce and/or write paperwork to any of the students,” he said.
Burne also agreed with Haney’s statement about his role at the schools and said that absent a real threat or emergency, it is the school administration’s role to police the schools; it is what they do every day, with or without the presence of an SRO, and they are very good at it because it is their job.
BUILDING COMMUNITY
Burne still lives in Southwest Harbor, but now it’s with his wife Jasmine. The two of them met in 2015 while he was on leave from the Marines and she waited on him at Side Street Café. After he left the Marines, they built a house.
Burne wanted to try a career in civilian law enforcement after being a military policeman in the Marines and while home on leave, he ran into then lieutenant, now chief, David Kerns and spoke with him about his desires. The two exchanged contact information and kept in touch while Burne finished his military enlistment. Soon after being discharged from the Marines in 2018, Burne was hired by the Bar Harbor Police Department.
Since becoming a Bar Harbor officer, Burne has become an instructor in the mechanics of arrest, restraint, and control as well as a pepper spray instructor. He is a certified State of Maine instructor and can teach these subjects at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. He is also a field training officer for the police department.
For the last two football seasons, Officer Elias has been a seventh- and eighth-grade football coach for Acadian Youth Sports (AYS). Some of those players he coached last year are sharing their freshman year of high school with him as he starts his own freshman year as SRO.
This football season, he is the special teams, running backs, and linebackers coach for the high school varsity football team. Additionally, he and Will Mossing co-coach the junior varsity football team under the oversight of Head Football Coach Mark Shields.
While coaching for AYS, and during the first week of high school football training before he was the SRO, Burne would coach on duty in full uniform. The police department would allow him to do this, seeing it as an exceptional opportunity for community interaction. If he had to leave to go on a call, he would, and while coaching, the kids would learn to ignore the uniform and know that he was “Coach Elias” to them and not Officer Burne.
Burne plans on taking advantage of the fact that he lives on Mount Desert Island by attending and being a part of as many school events as he can.
“Just because I am not working doesn’t mean I can’t still go out and interact with these kids in a positive way and support them, just like any of the other staff are doing,” he said.
On duty or off duty, he said that he is going to try and make it to as many school events as possible because that is part of building a relationship with these kids.
Burne said, “In my opinion, the mix of law enforcement officer, community member, and high school coach, mix well and support each other.”
WANTING TO BE THE SRO
Burne has wanted to be the SRO for a number of years, but didn’t see it as a reality because Tim Bland held the position, and Burne thought Bland was a really good fit for the position and he didn’t think Bland would be retiring anytime soon.
“He laid a really good foundation that I hope to continue to build off of,” Burne said.
During the school year last year, because of the previous retirement of Chief Jim Willis, the police department was undergoing some restructuring and then SRO Bland had to leave that position to take on a temporary leadership role within the department.
But Bland did retire from the Bar Harbor Police Department and the opportunity opened for Burne and any other Bar Harbor/Mount Desert Police Department officer who was a graduate of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy and had a minimum of three years full-time law enforcement experience to apply for the position. Officer/Coach Burne got the job.
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING AND FUNDING
According to Haney, there will be a discussion about the memorandum of understanding between the schools and the police department in regard to the SRO position at the MDI High School Board meeting on Monday, October 21, in the high school library. Haney anticipates that SRO Burne and Chief Kerns will both probably be in attendance to help answer discussions.
“A regular, integrated presence of an SRO would be new for the MDES (Mount Desert Elementary School) community and will require thoughtful and intentional collaboration and partnership,” Dorr said. “The MDES School Committee will vote on the memorandum of understanding at their regularly scheduled meeting on October 2. If the committee votes in favor of the MOU, I will work with our school's leadership team to determine how this resource will be accessed to benefit our students, staff, and school community.”
The SRO position, according to Bar Harbor Finance Director Sarah Gilbert, is funded 100% by the Town of Bar Harbor via the Bar Harbor Police Department’s budget with no monetary contribution from school budgets or the Town of Mount Desert.
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Cops shouldn’t be in schools
Congratulations Officer Elias on your new appointment as the SRO. May all your interactions with the children be positive ones.