Lucretia “Shā” Rogers began her new role as Leander ISD’s Executive Director of Safety and Security this school year.
Rogers is now helping the county establish its own police department to meet the requirements of the new state law, House Bill 3. She will assume the role of police chief once the county receives state approval to establish the department.
Before joining LISD, Rogers was an assistant police chief for Houston ISD and a patrol officer for the 4th Precinct Police Officer’s Office and the Brazos County Sheriff’s Department in Bryan. Before joining the police force, she worked as a nurse for over 10 years.
The outlook
The county is working to submit its application to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement to establish a police department and expects approval in 30 to 45 days, Rogers said.
LISD plans to hold town hall meetings in the coming months to inform citizens about the new police department and the state’s legal requirements, she said.
Rogers said she hopes to have officers and school police on campus sometime between January and next school year, but a specific timeframe has not yet been determined.
Rogers spoke with Impact on the community about her plans for the district as it works to bring LISD police and school police officers onto campuses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What inspired you to work as a police officer in an educational setting?
Initially, my career as a nurse was great. There’s nothing wrong with nursing. (I) love it. It’s a public service, and public service is what I love. But as I got older, I developed this love for law enforcement, and working with kids came after some of my classmates said, ‘Hey, I’m going to be a school police officer.’ (I) had no idea about school policing. I always saw the city police officer at my school, but never thought about school policing. I love working with kids, and that’s my desire, so I’ve stayed in school policing since 2014.
What attracted you to Leander ISD?
I had a classmate… at the Sam Houston (Law Enforcement) Management Institute (of Texas)… who actually worked here at Leander ISD as a (school resource officer), and she bragged a lot about this place. I told her I wanted to do my research, and… I saw that this was a family-oriented school district. They gave back and put a lot into the kids, and I said that’s where I wanted to put down my roots.
What tasks will you take on in your new role as Managing Director for Security and Protection?
My new job is to establish a police department for the school district. The timeline for that… is based on the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement’s establishment process, so I couldn’t give a timeline. There are a lot of moving parts, and it depends on when we hit the milestones that TCOLE has set for that. My goal and focus is to establish the police department as safely as possible.
What do you hope to achieve in your role?
Creating an environment where our staff and students feel safe to learn and work. That’s my goal. That’s what I focus on. I want us to create a space where everyone knows the safety measures – whether it’s keeping doors closed, making sure we don’t leave doors open, or doing safety drills. There are a lot of things that go into building a police department as well as the security team that we have for emergency management when it comes to safety.
What steps is the district currently taking to set up the police department?
I call this phase the pre-application phase. The pre-application phase is essentially getting all the documents together and setting up the … standard procedures that TCOLE requires of us in order to even apply to the police force. … Once you get all that stuff together, you can apply to TCOLE, and TCOLE will give you an agency number so you can start hiring people and doing whatever it takes to make room. Until you get your radio communications set up, have your records room, uniforms and vehicles, order equipment to do your work … until all of that is created and set up, we’re in a pre-application phase.
What advice would you give your younger self if you were a student in Leander ISD?
Don’t let yourself be pigeonholed. Don’t always think that just because you start in a certain profession, you can’t switch and reach for the stars. Always keep an open mind and reach for the stars, whether someone tells you you can do something or not – because I have changed professions. People always ask me, “Why did you give up nursing?” But I love working in the police force and I love helping people, so for me public service is public service too.
