Royal Oak Schools

Bridging Connections Between Students And Safety

Posted on 11/08/2023

Officer Antonio Lipscomb is a new face in the halls of Royal Oak High School this year, but he’s not new to the police department. Lipscomb has been a police officer for 15 years. He’s worked on the force, as a school resource officer, and on dispatch before finding himself back in Royal Oak and back in high school.

Officer Lipscomb replaced Officer Joe Yerke this year as Royal Oak Schools School Resource Officer. He says it may be cliche, but he likes helping people.

“The youth of today were having so many problems and issues, I was like man, somebody needs to reach out to these kids… who else to better to do it that than me?”

Lipscomb works alongside the students each day at Royal Oak High School. He goes to his desk and opens his computer to check his daily work log. Then he says he makes himself visible and accessible for the students to get to know him. He walks the halls, makes sure safety protocols are in place, interacts with students and staff, and even joins lunch. He says that the way he acts with the students is to be someone who they can and will feel comfortable approaching and talking about different concerns they may have.

"I want them to know that I have an open door policy and (they) can talk to me about anything." He says he wants to show them that police aren’t robots but regular people in and out of the uniform. "I look forward to breaking barriers," he said. "A lot of people (the students) may never have another encounter with a police officer."

Officer Lipscomb says he looks forward to educating the students from a different perspective, from a standpoint on where police officers are coming from. He hopes to impart some wisdom and knowledge to the students. "So they can remember my words and say, "Hey, Officer Lipscomb spoke about this with me," and that will help them in finding better solutions to deal with what may be happening." He added he’d rather educate the kids from here (inside the high school) than out there.

"I will always try to protect these students and try to educate them so they can try to be better citizens."