Whether it’s patrolling the streets late at night or the hallways of a high school, Student Resource Officer Daniel Andrews prioritizes keeping students safe.

Andrews picked up his first job as an SRO after moving from Dallas where he was on night shift patrol for two years, and for one year in Leander.

“They had an opening and they needed somebody to fill it,” Andrews said. “It was something I wanted to do at some point in my career, and a position came up.”

The officer has enjoyed working with high schoolers since his college years, and took the job as an opportunity to get to know the students on campus and help with any problems that may arise.

“If there’s kids having some issues then maybe I can curve their behavior before I end up arresting them on night shift a couple years from now,” Andrews said. “I spent three years arresting 20-25 year olds that are out there addicted to drugs, and committing burglaries and are homeless because of decisions they made when they were younger. My thought process is to get in there and maybe disrupt some things and force some changes so that I’m not out there arresting them a couple years from now.”

Each day brings a new aspect to the job, but on any given day, Andrews and the other SROs around the district meet at the police department to discuss what is happening around the campus. While he’s not at the station, he heavily deals with a variety of cases as they come in throughout the day such as thefts, assaults, harassment and complaints from faculty members.

“I do some patrolling, just walking around, being a presence so people can see that Officer Andrews is on campus,” Andrews said. “I monitor things on campus to make sure people aren’t selling drugs and bringing illegal substances, and monitoring the information that comes in.”

The SRO tries his to find the most efficient way to complete his job, and he finds that communication is important for everyone on campus.

“Whenever I first got here, I realized it was tough because I personally didn’t have a way to communicate to all the students as a whole,” Andrews said. “If I wanted to get a message out, I didn’t have a way of talking to anybody, so that’s why I created my Twitter account. Putting up posters and stuff, nobody pays attention to that for the most part, so if it’s something they can look at on social media or on their phones, that might be a little bit better, and at least a lot of kids will notice.”

His Twitter is followed by a large population of the students. Not only does his Twitter help to get information across to the school, the page also has humor-filled tweets and videos that the students enjoy. Andrews thinks to have been born with both a humorous and nerdy side.

“I love Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and comic books and musicals,” Andrews said. “There’s a pretty good nerd stretch where I like all of those things. I also love to go hunting. I love golfing. I love any kind of sports like basketball, ultimate frisbee and football. My time outside of work is predominately hunting, fishing, keeping in shape and playing sports.”

Although the officer has an array of interests outside of his job, he still appreciates his time as an SRO.

“High schoolers are just real and they say what’s on their mind, and they’re just very raw,” Andrews said. “You guys make my job enjoyable.”