The use of police officers in the schools has drawn criticism locally in recent weeks, but St. Paul's Como Park Senior High had the distinction this year of being served by the state's top cop.
Sayareth Toy Vixayvong, who goes by the name Toy, was honored on June 12 as police officer of the year by the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association.
The award stemmed from Vixayvong's previous assignment with the FBI Safe Streets Task Force. The association said he helped remove hundreds of pounds of narcotics from the streets and put numerous high-profile criminals behind bars.
"Officer Vixayvong took public service above and beyond the call of duty," Dennis Flaherty, the association's executive director, said in a news release. "He worked tirelessly in his position living undercover with some of the worst criminals in the United States and put himself in situations of danger that are really unthinkable to most people."
Vixayvong, a 15-year member of the St. Paul Police Department, closed out the 2015-16 school year as Como Park High's school resource officer (SRO).
Last month, the use of SRO's came under fire after a white officer stationed at St. Paul's Central High was captured on video using force while arresting a black teen for trespassing.
Earlier this year, a student group appointed by the St. Paul school board to survey peers about local issues took on the subject of SROs and found that black, Hispanic and American Indian students were less likely than their white and Asian counterparts to go to the officers for help.
As part of the study, members of the group interviewed their schools' SROs, and Keith Eicher, then a senior at Como Park High, interviewed Vixayvong. It was his first interaction with the officer, and he found Vixayvong to be neither "abrasive" nor "patronizing," Eicher told a reporter at the time.
