Donald Bridges

Don Bridges has been a police officer for the past 30 years, specializing in community relations and school/youth services. Selected as one of the first School Resource Officers in Baltimore County Public Schools, he participated in the pilot efforts, which lead to the expansion of the SRO program Baltimore County has the largest SRO program in the country today, with almost 90 officers assigned to elementary, middle and high schools.

In 1999, Officer Bridges founded the Maryland Association of School Resource Officers ( MASRO). He served as it's first president and later, on it's executive board. At one point MASRO had grown to over 500 members, which included police officers, probation officers, school administrators, school counselors, and teachers,

Officer Bridges has volunteered on the board of the National Association of School Resource Officers ( NASRO) since 2005, making him one of the longest tenured board members currently in the organization. He served as Treasurer from 2007 until 2012, overseeing financial matters and receiving accolades for successful records practices employed during his term. In 2012 he successfully ran for the position of 2nd Vice President for the organization, consequently serving as 1st Vice President from 2014, until he took over as President of the organization in July 2016. He has broad support from numerous state associations , school administrators and other national organizations such as the Federal Trade Commission, ATF, DOJ and the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He is often interviewed on regional and national news outlets for his expertise in the field of School Safety the School Resource Officer program Additionally , with the assistance of United States Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger, Officer Bridges made possible the historic International agreement that NASRO signed with the Republic of Georgia at the United States Capitol. In the fall of 2012, Officer Bridges was invited to Georgia to help implement an SRO training program. Continuing further International expansion , Officer Bridges did the same for over 100 officers in Cape Town, South Africa during the summer of 2015.

Currently, Officer Bridges serves as an Elementary School SRO. He believes in the triad model as advocated by NASRO which divides the school resource officers resource officers responsibility into three areas: teacher, informal counselor and law enforcement officer. In that capacity, he assists in educating students on the role of police in our society and on other law enforcement related issue, including crime prevention, recognition of substance abuse, driver safety, gang violence. An integral part of school safety teams throughout Baltimore County .