Harrisburg police captain to retire, take job as school district police chief

Gabriel Olivera

Capt. Gabriel Olivera worked at the Harrisburg Police Department for 25 years, most recently overseeing investigations and acting as the spokesman.

After 25 years with the Harrisburg Police Department, Captain Gabriel Olivera is retiring to take a job as the director of safety and security for the Central Dauphin School District.

Central Dauphin School board members on Monday approved hiring Olivera at an annual salary of $95,000 to oversee the district’s security and supervise two school police officers. Olivera was earning $88,500 annually as a captain with the city police.

He is expected to start his new position on July 1.

At the city police department, Olivera was in charge of overseeing all criminal investigations for the last five years and he served as the department’s spokesman in recent years. He also served as a crisis negotiator for the county since 2004 and worked as a city school resource officer before the program was shut down in 2009 as the city’s finances crumbled.

Police Commissioner Thomas Carter said he was still finalizing plans to promote an officer to the rank of captain to fill the impending vacancy. It was unclear who would serve as the district’s spokesperson after Olivera leaves.

“I’m happy for him and he deserves it,” Carter said. “He’s been a great friend and co-worker. I hate to see him leave but this is a new chapter in his life and I will be cheering for him.”

Gabriel Olivera

Capt. Gabriel Olivera

The Central Dauphin School District started its own police department in 2014, becoming one of several dozen districts across the state to employ school police officers.

School Police officers are different from school resource officers in that School Police Officers s are employed by school districts and work under the authority of the Pennsylvania Department of Education. School Police Officers must be approved by a county judge and they are sworn in by the judge.

School resource officers, however, are employed by municipalities, working under the authority of the Municipal Police Officers’ Education & Training Commission, and they are simply assigned to work in various schools.

Both School Police Officers and School Resource Officers can be armed in schools. Private security guards, however, can not be armed in schools, according to a clarification of state law earlier this year by the state department of education.

The previous Central Dauphin School District Chief, Nicolas Barrelet, was hired in 2014 at a salary of $75,000 He recently resigned, creating the vacancy. A school district spokeswoman was not immediately available to answer questions.

The school department was formed to establish a safety and security presence in the building to deter criminal activity; investigate potential campus crimes; respond to emergencies; and act as the first person to encounter/engage an active shooter, among other things.

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