From Patrol To Mentor
Justin Buck’s SRO Journey
During his 18 years with the Flower Mound Police Department, Justin Buck has worn many hats and earned multiple awards.
As a patrol officer for five years and in community services/crime prevention for 10, he received various internal honors plus was selected twice as the Best in Denton County.
Now in just his third year at Downing Middle School in Flower Mound, he was named the 2024 Lewisville Independent School District School Resource Officer of the Year. He was selected among 38 district-wide SROs and received his award April 26 in front of 1,400-plus people at the DFW Hyatt Regency.
“The people you are among is very humbling,” said Justin, whose biggest previous recognition was as Police Officer of the Year in 2020 and 2021 Best of Denton County competitions.
Justin originally applied to become an SRO 10 years ago but didn’t get it. When the opportunity arose again, he jumped at the chance and succeeded in that quest.
“You have to want to be an SRO because not everyone is a kid person,” he said. “There are a lot of people who didn’t have kids because they didn’t want kids. And there’s a lot of people who like to work with kids.”
As a school resource officer, Justin oversees the physical security of the building and much, much more.
“Obviously that’s a huge part of why officers are in buildings,” he said. “But I enjoy the mentorship with the kids, the camaraderie with the kids. It’s something different every day. It’s not just door checks.”
One day he can be found grilling hot dogs. The next day, he may be accompanying an English class to the Perot Museum. Of course, there are days when he must deal with the criminal nature of his profession, though he has programs at his disposal to attempt to mitigate the issues.
“We still deal with parents,” he said. “Most of the time I deal with the parents because I’ve had to deal with the kiddo. Parents can be receptive or far off the other way.”
Prior to this past January, SROs like Justin were also responsible for the feeder elementary schools, which for him meant Bridlewood and Flower Mound elementary schools. Since then, he’s focused solely on Downing after a change required each school to have its own armed person with LISD employing a guardian program.
“I loved going to them,” he said. “I always liked elementary and middle school kids because they still think we’re cool.”
But being in one place allows SROs like Justin to know each student better. It also means he has time to attend more events, which he records on a large wall calendar inside his office. This is where he marks down school activities so he can plan to attend at least one each week. These include athletics, choir and orchestra concerts, plays — on top of school assemblies, lunch time, or outdoor recess. He’s also been asked to judge STEM class projects.
Justin, who has bachelor’s and master’s degrees focused on criminal justice from Sam Houston State University, has only worked for the FMPD.
“I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” he said. “Once you get into law enforcement, you figure out you start building that seniority and camaraderie with the guys. Then there’s trying to help people not become victims. I’ve enjoyed every aspect of each job.”
Before switching to his current role, he spent time conducting home and business inspections and on crime prevention plus coordinated volunteers.
“I’m a people person, so getting to coordinate with the volunteers and interact with them every day was fun.”
When not working or with his family — which includes wife Jennifer and two young children — the Bartonville resident likes to follow Formula 1 auto racing and Dallas area professional sports teams. In summers, he returns to the department to assist where needed.
In July, he will attend the national school resource officer conference in Phoenix with all expenses paid as part of being named School Resource Officer of the Year.
