Last year’s House Bill 84 required armed “guardians” in every Utah school, public or private.
Although that could mean armed volunteers or other school employees, Summit County decided to go with trained sheriff’s deputies.
“That's the issue that keeps me up at night, always trying to figure out how we can stay ahead of any, any kind of occurrence in our schools,” Sheriff Frank Smith said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” Monday. “It's a frightening issue to parents, law enforcement. And hopefully this is a step in the right direction.”
Smith previously told KPCW placing deputies at every school is safer and fairer for kids and parents across Summit County.
His office already had four SROs, so now the total is nine. They’re a ll full-time positions, with an estimated total cost of $2 million being split by the county government and the schools.
In the summer, the school resource officers will double as patrol deputies.
Smith said he runs a pretty “lean” patrol division, which can result in staffing issues if people call in sick while another is on vacation, for instance. SROs will be able to beef up that department when school’s not in session.
“One of those deputies now is on our public lands that the county owns, patrolling those lands,” he added.
The new SROs will begin in the 2025-2026 school year. The Winter Sports School, which previously split a part-time SRO with other schools in the Park City School District, will continue to have a deputy assigned to it.
