EVERGREEN, Colo. (KDVR) The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has announced that Evergreen High School will have a dedicated school resource officer (SRO) on campus full-time after students return following a recent school shooting.
The Evergreen Parent-Teachers-Students Association had been hoping for a full-time officer.
“I realize they may not stop every tragedy, but we need deterrents in place. Someone trained to act in emergencies is critical to reducing incidents like this. That’s what we’re really aiming for,” explained Evergreen PTSA President Cindy Mazeika.
During the recent shooting, the school had only a part-time SRO, who had left to respond to another call, following the proper procedures as confirmed by a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Mazeika insists that having an officer at the school is essential. Inquiries were made by KDVR regarding the regulations of SRO policies. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office provided the intergovernmental agreement that outlines the partnership with Jeffco Public Schools concerning school resource officers.
The agreement highlights that “The JCSO may opt, at any time and at its sole discretion, to reassign employees and appoint replacement SROs or SRO Supervisors.”
KDVR interviewed former SRO Stacey Collis, who emphasized the importance of having full-time resource officers. Collis now operates a company called 2020 Safe Schools based in Colorado.
“It is a deterrent. You have a patrol car, usually marked, parked in front of the school. You are uniform a majority of the time. That mere presence is something that will stop things from happening before it goes too far,” Collis said.
Evergreen’s PTSA says it still wants more details about the incoming SRO and their duties.
For now, though, the group continues to work on raising money to help make sure students, teachers and staff have what they need in the days to come. The organization says it will be posting more information on more specific needs on its website ehsptsa.nationbuilder.com.
In the meantime, Jeffco Public Schools told KDVR that district leadership is working on a plan to return to learning and will have that finalized later in the week.
