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School Resource Officer (SRO)

The School Resource Officer Program is presently operating with funding from multiple sources; Mesa Public Schools, Mesa Police Department, Federal Safe Schools Grants and stimulus money. The high schools listed below are assigned a school resource officer. Junior highs split an officer between two schools under the Safe Schools grant. Mesa Public Schools provides funding for off-duty officers to cover schools that are not funded by the Safe Schools Grant, or covered under Federal stimulus money. Schools covered under the grants have strict teaching requirements known as Law Related Education (LRE). The primary goal of the SRO program is to provide our children with a safe school environment where they can excel.

Two sergeants are assigned to the unit, which presently has 13 officers and 25 off duty officers. All officers chosen to work the schools applied for the positions and were selected based on a multi- facet criteria process.

 

Sgt. Schweisthal 480-644-4391	Sgt. Spina 480-644-4214
The following schools have a school resource officer assigned:
Canyon High School Desert Ridge High School Dobson High School Mountain View High School Red Mountain High School Riverview High School Skyline High School Westwood High School	Brimhall Jr. High School Desert Ridge Jr. High School Fremont Jr. High School Mesa Jr. High School Poston Jr. High School Rhodes Jr. High School Shepherd Jr. High School Smith Jr. High School Stapley Jr. High School Taylor Jr. High School

 

History

In 1994 the Mesa Police Department and Mesa Public Schools began the Safe Schools Program. The program initially placed an officer at Dobson High School. Because of the success of the program it was expanded through a federal grant to include officers at several high schools and junior high schools.

In 2002, the Mesa Police Department was awarded funding through the Safe Schools Grants. These grants provided officers for the high schools and required officers to be involved in law-related classroom instruction. Junior highs were covered through other funding sources that included Federal Community Policing grants.

During the previous 4 years, significant cuts were made to the Safe Schools Funding. The School Resource Unit that had 25 officers at its peak was scaled back to 13 officers and funding sources are presently the Safe Schools Grant, Mesa Public Schools, Federal stimulus money and the Mesa Police Department. With this shared approach, the SRO unit is still able to provide protection and education to the over 70,000 students from Mesa and Gilbert Public Schools.

 

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