Looking For Resources in Carbon 2

The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office is close to reaching an agreement with Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) to provide a school resource officer for its facilities.

Sheriff Alex Bakken told the Board of Carbon County Commissioners on June 6 the district had tentatively agreed to provide $40,000 annually to fund the position. The resource officer would travel throughout the district, covering seven schools and three high schools.

“This is still in the early stage,” Bakken said. “Luckily we can pull a lot of our (Carbon County School) district one information and utilize it when it comes to district two and the MOU, position announcement and position description.” 

Bakken said he plans to speak to the CCSD2 board during its June 19 meeting to further discuss the potential agreement. CCSD1’s school resource officer will join him to give board members an overview of what the job entails and the responsibilities SROs have. Bakken said the following meeting in July will feature Superintendent Darrin Jennings hosting a presentation about the proposed SRO position.

“He’s been great to work with,” Bakken said.

School resource officers are specially trained to provide a police presence at schools. According to the National Association of School Resource Officers, SROs are trained in school-based law enforcement and crisis response that work collaboratively with the schools they’re assigned to. Several schools throughout Wyoming have utilized SROs to provide additional security at schools.

“NASRO considers it a best practice to use a “triad concept” to define the three main roles of school resource officers: educator (i.e. guest lecturer), informal counselor/mentor, and law enforcement officer,” the NASRO’s website states.