Commissioners approve agreement for school resource officer

Schools in Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) will soon have a resource officer following recent approval of an agreement by the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC).

The commissioners approved the Memorandum of Understanding with CCSD2 during their June 20 meeting. The officer will cover six of the seven schools throughout the district, as the school in Elk Mountain doesn’t have any students enrolled.

The SRO will be provided by the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office in an agreement like one already in place between Carbon County School District No. 1 and the county.  During the CCSD2’s Board of Trustees meeting June 19, approval was given to Superintendent Darrin Jennings to sign the contract with the county. The following day, the county commissioners followed suit.

“We believe this is a very important building block in constructing this position in district two, as we already have this position in district 1,” Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken said.

Jennings appeared with Bakken at the commissioners’ meeting, telling them safety and security are the top priorities in the district.

“Your deputy, Joel Robertson, told my board just a vehicle marked ‘sheriff’ on the outside of your school … will deter someone from coming into your school and doing some violence to our school,” Jennings said.

He also said preventing violence isn’t the only benefit to having an SRO in the district, as they also provide an educational aspect to the schools they work in and can be used to talk to students about issues such as drugs, vaping or even helping teenagers drive appropriately. Jennings said the driving aspect would be especially helpful as the district sees several students entering its diversion program after receiving a speeding citation. Currently, those students must travel to Rawlins to work with the deputy to have those citations removed from their record.

“As the parent of a child who just turned 16, I hope that could be a benefit,” Jennings said.

Jennings also believes the SRO would be seen as a positive role model within the district’s schools and sees the potential relationship law enforcement can build with students as a tremendous benefit to both sides.

With scheduling, Jennings said the idea is to have the SRO spend a day in the northern schools, a day in Encampment and two days in Saratoga, though that is subject to change.

The commissioners unanimously approved the agreement.

Sheriff’s office purchases new ATV

Bakken said the office was able to buy its first four-wheeler using leftover community impact funding from the Ekola Flats Wind Project. Bakken said one of the biggest concerns the office deals with in the Seminoe area comes from property owners complaining of trespassers. One of those places near Sam Mountain experiences people cutting fences to ride their ATVs on private land.

“Not only is it private property, it’s calving grounds for the ID Ranch,” Bakken said,

Bakken said the sheriff’s office hasn’t been able to help enforce the property boundaries prior to the purchase and plans to use the four-wheeler to begin high-visibility patrols in areas that are trespassed upon. Bakken said the office plans to use the four-wheeler to apprehend trespassers as well.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on July 5 at Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.