The School Safety Enhancement Team (SSET) was created in response to community concerns about school safety in and out of the classroom. The team is a partnership between the Oceanside Police Department, the Oceanside Unified School District, the Vista Unified School District, and members of the community who live and work near schools. The team was formed as a pilot program in 1999.

The School Resource Officers are primarily assigned to the high school and middle school campuses, but they also help solve problems at elementary schools.

The officers assigned to the School Safety Enhancement Team have taken a proactive approach to preparing our schools for both natural and man-made critical incidents. Every school employee has attended several hours of training put on by the School Safety Enhancement Team. This training addressed issues such as preparing mentally and physically for critical events; how to organize the school staff into an efficient and effective problem-solving unit during times of crisis; and much more.

Every school campus within Oceanside has worked together with the School Safety Enhancement Team to develop a new, cutting-edge Crisis Response Plan that is not only relevant and effective, but is also largely uniform throughout the city. This uniformity minimizes confusion between campuses and streamlines the process for Crisis Response on our campuses.

The School Safety Enhancement Team is also responsible for developing Oceanside’s first Crisis Disc, a tool used by Police and Fire personnel to increase efficiency and speed our response to school campuses. The Crisis Disc is located on the computer of every police car within the City and provides information such as campus maps, aerial photographs of every campus, emergency contact numbers, traffic control points for each campus, and other information that would be useful for Police and Fire personnel during the first hour of any kind of critical incident.

The Oceanside and Vista Unified School Districts provide funding, office space, equipment, supplies and cooperative support to the School Safety Enhancement Team. Team members perform traditional police duties at the schools, including safety patrols, arrests, investigations, report writing, and traffic control. Team members also teach, help the schools draft disaster preparedness plans and safe school action plans, counsel students and parents, and work to reduce truancy.

For more information on the School Safety Enhancement Team (SSET), contact Sergeant Anthony Flores at (760) 435-4881.

SSET:  Striving to have the safest schools!

Some tips for parents:

• Establish family rules that make the use of drugs non-negotiable.
• Educate yourself about drugs so you can talk informatively with your children and answer their questions.
• Since peer pressure is a major factor in teen drug use, know your children's friends.
• Talk with other parents. Try to establish uniform rules that make access to drugs harder, such as a curfew and the amount of spending money they receive. If a problem exists - get help!

Juvenile Diversion Program Information - English 

Programs de Prevencion y Rehabilitacion Juvenil - Spanish