This Cop Patrols His Beat at High School : Education: Sgt. Kevin Molis is first of a new breed of community police officers in Massachusetts. He is on campus to foster trust with student body.

By RACHEL ZOLL

Dec. 3, 1995 12 AM PT

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MALDEN, Mass. — Malden police Sgt. Kevin Molis wades through the tables at the high school cafeteria, the gray shadow of his military buzz cut barely visible beneath his policeman’s cap.

The 6-foot-2 former football center scans the rows of teen-agers as they exchange tales of the morning’s classes. Lumps of mashed potatoes and cheese cubes sit on plastic trays before them.

Molis stops at one table of four boys and puts his right hand on a student’s shoulder.

The conversation stops.

“Hey, how’s your driving going,” Molis asks, in a thick Massachusetts accent. “Do you think the rain will hold out for the game Saturday? I really hope so.”

Meet Officer Friendly--1990s style. He knows who made varsity, whose grandma is in the hospital and who got dumped the week before the prom.

But he also knows who has a juvenile arrest record.

Molis is among the first community police officers in Massachusetts assigned to patrol a suburban high school full-time. While some juvenile officers visit schools only when violence occurs, Molis has become Malden High’s “neighborhood cop,” who tries to stop trouble before it starts.

“I’m not here as a security guard. I’m not here to search kids,” said Molis, whose job is funded through a grant from the state’s Executive Office of Public Safety.

“I tell kids, I want you to trust me. I want to be your friend, but a friend tells you when you’re acting badly.”

Molis has had several chances for frank talk since he was assigned to the school of about 1,300 students two years ago. The high school has had an influx of poor students over the last 15 years, many from broken families, who were attracted by Malden’s relatively affordable housing.

Minorities make up nearly 40% of the student body and 23 different languages--including Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish and Portuguese--are spoken in the school, Principal John Wright said.

The quick change has strained the school, and Molis has been called on to stop fights, arrest abusive teen-age boyfriends and scare off a boy who was not a Malden student, but cased the school carrying a knife and trying to sell counterfeit crack cocaine.

But that drama contrasts sharply with the 8- to 10-hour days spent patrolling the halls without incident, talking to students between classes and after school, he explained.

“It probably doesn’t look that exciting to somebody from the outside, but it’s one of the most important parts of the job,” Molis said.

When he started the job, Molis struggled to win over wary students. Like a ward councilor seeking reelection, he shook hands at football games and school concerts, and daily sat through cafeteria lunches, although he said he never ate the food.

The payoff came when kids started using his beeper number to contact him with everything from questions about their homework to news about a fight planned for that night in a city park, he said.

“Kevin sold himself, in my opinion,” said Brendan Duffy, an assistant principal who has worked at Malden High for more than 30 years.

“I’ve never seen so many kids looking for a police officer. When kids come up to me and ask, ‘Is Kevin going to be in today?’ I know there’s going to be trouble and they’re afraid, and I know he’ll be one of the ones to stop it.”

Brendan Bartolo, a 16-year-old sophomore, said students approach Molis rather than a guidance counselor or teacher because “he’s more open, and, to be blunt, he’s more convenient.”

“I didn’t know what he was doing here at first. I thought someone was dealing drugs here and he was here to arrest them,” said Bartolo, who now tells friends to approach Molis for help with personal issues, such as trouble at home.

Others confess their legal transgressions, looking to Molis to ease their anxiety over the consequences. In October, Molis was approached in the hall by a 15-year-old boy who had been arrested for possession of marijuana.

“He was asking what was going to happen to him,” Molis said later. “I told him, obviously, it’s a crime. He could get probation or community service, but he would have to face it.”

But news of violent or habitual offenders still comes from traditional sources. Molis meets weekly with Middlesex Dist. Atty. Thomas Reilly and school officials to share information on troubled youths.

Molis--who is unmarried and lives with relatives--concedes that his near 24-hour availability would be impossible for an officer with a wife or kids. But he does think other schools would benefit from a similar setup.

“During the day, this is a community and it’s important for police to play an active role here,” Molis said.