Officer Ksiazek: An Inside Look at a Local Inspiration

By Vance Dotterer | March 2024

Since the spring of 1999, one familiar face has kept watch over these halls. School Resource Officer, or SRO, Sergeant Thomas Ksiazek has worked for Abington Heights High School for over 25 years. 

But why did he decide to become a small town cop and lead him to joining our Abington Heights family?

For him, it started back during college, when he had absolutely no desire to be in law enforcement. Instead, he worked in the social service industry as a counselor in a Scranton residential program. He worked with mentally ill individuals who weren’t sick enough for an inpatient program at a hospital and instead would go to the Scranton Counseling Center for outpatient rehab and mental assistance.

The incident that pushed him to join law enforcement happened while he was working there. A young man was on the brink of harming himself, contemplating ending his life. Officer Ksiazek was able to talk him into going to the hospital safely, but because the patient had something that could be categorized as a lethal weapon, the cops had to be called. Ksiazek said that when the cop showed up, he escalated the situation and the formerly calmed down patient ended up hurting himself with the razor.

“At that point, I realized I could do much better at that, and I could probably help a lot of people, and that’s why I went into the police academy,” Ksiazek said. 

Police brutality has been a topic floating around the political scene for a while, even more since 2020’s riots regarding the murder of George Floyd. 

When asked about the intimidation that comes with the badge, he said that, “In the Academy, we were asked ‘What is the most intimidating thing we have on us.’” 

Most people would think to say a police officer’s gun, or taser. Ksiazek thinks otherwise. 

“It’s the uniform. That’s where the intimidation comes from.” 

When he talks to students, he wants them to get to know the real him, to ‘cover up’ the badge to help eliminate some of the fear or intimidation that may result from his reputation- and his stature. 

Ksiazek never did end up joining the big city cops or the intimidating state police, despite an offer to join Scranton’s force right out of the Police Academy. Rather, he accepted an offer to join the community police. After accepting this position, Ksiazek spent most of his time helping the community. 

One such way was educating the elderly about scam calls, mail, and ads they could see in their daily life. He also started and ran not only a basketball league, but also a fishing derby at Lackawanna State Park and running the DARE program, which is what brought him to Abington Heights.

The School Resource Officer program was not the original program that brought community police officers to our school. Ksiazek was an in school DARE officer, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education. This program overtime was moved to the high school and became the School Resource Officer program.

Officer Ksiazek’s first day as the SRO was two days after the Columbine High School Massacre in Colorado, which was April 20, 1999. This definitely set the mood for what he was to do in our school. 

When asked, he said that the reason he stayed as the SRO for over twenty years was because he likes to help people, and gets to see students he helped grow up and have their own kids. Ksiazek wanted to do as much as he could for the community, and in a way has become a local figure to look up to.

His parting words and a phrase to live by is simply, “Treat people the way you want to be treated.” A saying from his grandfather and something he wants to apply on a daily basis. A humble saying from a great man, someone who has and continues to help make this community a better, safer, more accepting place for all.