Dexter’s School Resource Officer Brings Together Law Enforcement, Education and Community

Note: As part of our Police Week 2025 coverage, The Sun Times News is featuring profiles of local officers to recognize their service and help readers get acquainted with the people behind the badge

School Resource Officer Gerrod Visel’s role in Dexter Community Schools is a unique one. You will see him in a variety of places around the school district, from daily safety and security meetings with principals and administration to being in the hallways and parking lots at arrival and departure times as well as going on the Eighth-Grade Trip to Washington D.C. and attending home athletic events.

The role of the School Resource Officer is a unique one in that it brings together law enforcement, education and community.

Visel’s role with DCS is an important one that was created to help, in part, promote positive and effective communication between youth, teachers and law enforcement. It’s through a cooperative partnership with the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office. Visel has been with the county sheriff’s for over twenty years and has been in Dexter since 2018. He came to Dexter as an alum; a 1994 graduate of Dexter High School, which is another reason for the uniqueness of this role.

Many days Visel will begin his day in the parking lot of the high school with his WCSO vehicle. Other days he might be at Creekside, with its busy drop-off/pickup traffic, or checking the crosswalks, or at Anchor and Beacon keeping an eye on its morning traffic.

It’s truly a district-wide role.

Just to describe some other of his daily duties, he will conduct perimeter checks on buildings and oftentimes he gets called to different school buildings around the district to help out with an issue or act as his title says, a resource. The calls can be for a presentation in a government class at the high school, to helping out with a student, typically one in kindergarten through fourth grade, who wants to leave or run from school.

DCS says the goals of the cooperative program are:

• Create a safer school environment by:
  • Encouraging more positive attitudes towards rules, laws and society; 
  • Supporting conflict resolution and the responsibilities of citizenship; 
  • Teaching young people the concepts of the criminal justice system, objectives of law enforcement–as it regards public and individual safety; 
  • Assisting in the prevention of delinquency and criminal activity among young people. 
• Dispel misconceptions about law enforcement and society; 
• Act as a sounding board for student and parent concerns; 
• Act as liaison with courts, social services and other community programs; 
• Be a resource for information and community presenters. 

However, beyond these goals and his daily duties, the role is unique for Visel in that he truly is homegrown. He’s from Dexter and lives in the community. He said he takes his role in going along on the D.C. trip as a chaperone, being at football games or commencement, or meeting discretely one on one with a student who has a concern, as being very important for district students and families. It’s a job that is very much part of the school district. He keeps an open door policy and takes seriously his role as a resource.

Some of his favorite moments come when he is off-duty and sees a former Dexter student out in the community. These moments will have the former students looking back at the role he played while they were in Dexter schools.

“It’s always a reward to stop and have a chat with them,” Visel said.

As we recognize Police Week 2025, it’s important to remember law enforcement officers play a variety of roles and can be helpful to the community in different ways. The School Resource Officer is an example of this.

Photo of Officer Visel courtesy of DCS