ARIZONA, USA — Any school that asked the state for a police officer in 2023 got one, but they're not all permanent.
"The first thing I do is just a safety check of the school," Surprise police officer Daniel Pope said. "I like to check all the doors and make sure everything is in order."
Pope is not a school resource officer, but on his days off, he works overtime at schools like Countryside Elementary in Surprise.
"I think it's peace of mind," Pope said. "Even when parents drops their kids off, I see them and they look a little more at ease seeing an officer just in case anything were to happen. That's what I'm here for, is to protect their kids and keep them safe."
Due to staffing shortages, local police departments aren't able to allocate officers to every school that wants one.
Instead, officers are working off-duty as school safety officers (SSOs).
"An SSO is more of a, I guess you would equate it to a, like a substitute teacher. So, although they still have the skills, they're not permanent," Dysart Unified School District Director of Safety Operations Jason Yeager said.
Yeager said Dysart has 13 school resource officers. The other 11 campuses have school safety officers.
"Based on needs and staffing availability, it was going to take us a few years to eventually get to SROs on every campus," Yeager said. "Being able to kind of get this head start or this segway into that has been nice."
The officers are funded through the state's School Safety Grant.
"We fulfill all of the police officer requests without any questions asked," Supt. Tom Horne said. "If they ask for one, they get one."
The grant funded nearly 300 police officers in 2023. Approximately 77 were SSOs.
Horne told 12News SSOs are second best to SROs.
"We still give five-day-a-week coverage to the schools. We will not cover less than five full days a week because you know it would be terrible if when the police officers are not there is when the maniac comes in," Horne said.
The SSOs are fairly new to Arizona schools, but Countryside Elementary School Principal Chantell McNeese said it's already making a difference.
"To have that different perspective and eyes in supporting the safety of our school is very important," McNeese said. "It does make all of us more safe to be at school every day."
The School Safety Grant also funded more than 500 school counselors and social workers in 2023.
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