Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

This year, Brian Ravish holds a new title as Deerfield “School Resource Officer.” He is responsible for all five town schools: Deerfield Elementary, Frontier Regional High School, Bement School, Eaglebrook School, and Deerfield Academy. Though this position is new to Ravish, he has “done just about everything [else]” in law enforcement, he said, including teaching classes for other policemen. Now settled into his new post, Ravish said, “So far I love it—absolutely love it.”

police officerBorn and raised in South Deerfield, Ravish first dreamed of being a policeman after seeing an officer at a parade when he was just seven years old. “I knew, ever since I was a young boy, that I wanted to do this job,” he said. After graduating from Frontier High School in 1989, Ravish took the first step in pursuing his career by becoming a patrolman in Deerfield at 18 years old. Ravish gave up playing Division III college football and joining the military in order to become a policeman as soon as he graduated high school. He noted, “I was lucky that I became a policeman so young,” adding, “I don’t regret my decision.”

Though Ravish steered away from football as a career path, the sport still played a key role in his life. In 1993, he began coaching Pop Warner football before returning to coach at his alma mater, Frontier, in 1997. In fact, he was motivated to become the School Resource Officer for Deerfield because he loves “ working with children.”

As the School Resource Officer, Ravish will ensure safety on all five campuses on Deerfield.  Ravish brings to the job his knowledge of law enforcement and experience working with children as a coach and a parent. He believes that being the School Resource Officer is a “great opportunity to work with any child, for any reason” and also mentioned that he thought the job “would be just a great experience” for himself

As a father to 22-year-old Alex and 12-year-old Hannah, Ravish hopes to be a friendly safety figure to other children in the community, and he views the School Resource Officer position as the perfect opportunity to support students. “I don’t want to be scary; I want to be approachable,” he concluded.