The School Resource Officer Program is presently operating with funding from multiple sources; Mesa Public Schools, Queen Creek School District, Mesa Police Department, Federal Safe Schools Grants and stimulus money.  Mesa Public Schools, Gilbert and Queen Creek School Districts provide 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 16 officers and numerous off-duty officers. All officers chosen to work the schools applied for the positions and were selected based on a multi-facet criteria process.

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, Gilbert and Queen Creek 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.