Dixon High School assigned new school resource officer in wake of current SRO’s upcoming retirement

DIXON – Dixon High School will be welcoming a new school resource officer into its building next week as its current officer retires after four years at the high school.

School resource officer Chris Cox will be retiring after serving 16 years at the Dixon Police Department. His last day at the high school will be Oct. 4. Taking over the position is officer Matt Coffey, who will begin Monday, Sept. 30, and work alongside Cox throughout the week, according to an announcement made Friday morning by the department.

“Officer Coffey is an alumni of Dixon High School, so that’s always exciting to welcome one of our own back home,” Superintendent Margo Empen said during a Dixon Public Schools Board meeting Wednesday.

A 2015 graduate, “Coffey is extremely excited for this opportunity to return to Dixon High School,” according to the department.

Coffey has been with the Dixon PD for six years and served with the Rock Falls Police Department for two years before joining the Dixon department.

“I’ve been on patrol for the last seven years and just looking at a change in pace ... so I’m super excited,” Coffey said in an interview with Shaw Local.

Before Coffey became a police officer, he was a football coach. He said he’s always had a passion for sports, but now, working in law enforcement, his schedule never allowed him to pursue that interest. At the high school, “they might give me the opportunity to coach sports as well,” Coffey said.

As a coach, “I would lean toward football,” he said, adding, “I’d like to get comfortable in the school resource officer position first before I try and do that. But maybe down the road it’s an option.”

Over the summer, he completed 40 hours of SRO training through the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, which complies with all the mandates required to be certified as an SRO. In August, Coffey also completed ALICE instructor training and began assisting with ALICE training within several schools in the community, according to the Dixon PD.

ALICE training – which stands for “alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate” – is a type of active shooter response training that goes beyond the standard lockdown. It was developed by Greg Crane, a retired Texas police officer, in 2000, according to alicetraining.com.

Cox is retiring after spending 29 years in law enforcement. Before joining the Dixon Police Department, he spent time with the Rochelle Police Department and the Ogle County Sheriff’s Office, according to the release.

His last nine years were spent as a school resource officer within Dixon Public Schools beginning at Reagan Middle School and Madison Elementary before he moved to the high school.

“Cox’s calm demeanor and ability to communicate with those he encountered over the years has served him well throughout his career, specifically the school resource officer role,” the department said.