June 7, 2023 |
Photo – Carbon County School District #2 Building – Bigfoot99 file photo
The Sheriff’s Office is moving to close to reaching an agreement to have a resource officer in Carbon County School District #2.
A focus on school safety was one of Alex Bakken’s campaign promises when he ran for Carbon County Sheriff. In March, Sheriff Bakken signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Carbon County School District #1 to assign a sheriff’s deputy to the Rawlins and Baggs schools. The deputy serves as a school resource officer, ensuring the students and staff are protected by a trained and armed law enforcement officer. Deputy Joel Robertson was assigned the task.
During Tuesday’s Board of Carbon County Commissioners meeting, Sheriff Bakken said he is finalizing a similar agreement with Carbon County School District #2 to provide a resource officer. Sheriff Bakken said District 2 Superintendent Darrin Jennings has agreed to find the necessary $40,000 in the budget to pay for the resource officer.
Speaking to Bigfoot99, Sheriff Bakken said the resource officer program is an important part of keeping his promise of increased school safety. The sheriff said Superintendent Jennings took the first step toward obtaining a resource officer for school district 2.
Sheriff Bakken said the details of the MOU between his department and school district 2 are still being finalized. When the documents have been reviewed and approved, the sheriff said he anticipates having a single deputy cover the entirety of the district. Sheriff Bakken acknowledged that the deputy would have a lot of ground to cover, but having even a single resource officer is an improvement.
Sheriff Bakken said the next step is to meet with the Carbon County School District #2 board on June 19th. The sheriff said he wants to guarantee everyone is on the same page before moving forward with the agreement.
Sheriff Bakken said he would like to have the district 2 resource officer in place by this upcoming school year.
The sheriff said he is pleased by how receptive both Carbon County School Districts have been to his resource officer program. He thanked Jennings and CCSD1 Superintendent Mike Hamel for their partnerships.
During yesterday’s BOCC meeting, Sheriff Bakken said Jennings would attend the June 20th commissioners meeting to talk about the project.
