New SRO getting into the flow

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There is a new cop walking the beat here at Mounds View High School. Deputy Abi Sachdev transferred from a patrol and apprehension unit to Mounds View, where he is the new school resource officer (SRO).

An SRO, or a police officer who works in a school environment, has many different duties. Sachdev, as Mounds View’s SRO, often helps with traffic congestion, enforcing school safety and assist ing with any other community service duties. “I’m just another resource, I’m in a police aspect, but it’s more so another resource to guide them [students] in the right path,” said Sachdev.

Before his time at Mounds View, Sachdev first started working for the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office in 2014 in a patrol unit. In 2017, he then started as an SRO for three elementary schools within the district until returning to his past unit in 2019. After his elementary experience, however, he finds he now sees familiar faces as he walks through Mounds View halls many years later. “I know most of the kiddos attending here. So that makes a huge difference, you know, bridging that gap with them. It’s good,” he said. Sachdev hopes he can grow closer with students through this recon- work as a patrol officer and an SRO are stark. “I’m used to being out and about in a patrol setting, so I just have to get used to those elements, constantly being out and about in the building,” he said. In place of driving in a patrol area, apprehending suspects and answering calls, he instead patrols the building making sure students get to where they need to go, ensuring the student safety and helping keep the school clean. He also works in his office during the day to finish reports and work on previous cases.

Sachdev is not sure what he’ll be doing for the sheriff’s office in the future, but plans to stay at Mounds View for now. Although, in the long term, he would like to go back to working in his former unit.

Since joining the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office in 2014 to working with elementary schools in 2017, Sachdev continues to make a positive impression on the students in the district. He wants students to know “that I’m very easy to talk to [and] very easy to approach. If you need anything, just come up and talk to