Cameron Daniel, a deputy for the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office, has been stationed at Aspen High School as a school resource officer for the past four years.
After attending the National Association of School Resource Officers’ (NASRO) School Safety Conference last month, Daniel said that the Aspen School District’s partnership with local law enforcement agencies is “ahead of the curve" when following best practices, compared to other school policing programs.
During the 2023-2024 school year, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office assigned an additional deputy to patrol the Aspen School District. NASRO has previously suggested school districts have one officer for every 1,000 students, and Aspen schools now have more with three officers for roughly 1,600 students.
Aspen schools are not dealing with as much violent crime or gang activity as many school districts in bigger cities, but Daniel is still happy to have the additional resources.
“When it comes to getting into the classroom, … having the bandwidth to sit down and individually meet with kids and parents, … I would say we're ahead of the curve and follow most of the best practices,” Daniel said.
NASRO’s guiding principles recommend law enforcement agencies with school resource officers gather regular community feedback, stay out of school discipline, and give school resource officers special training, among other recommendations.
Research from the National Institute of Justice does not support school policing as an effective strategy to increase safety, and students of color can be particularly at risk of harmful effects, but studies don’t rule out positive impacts altogether.
Drug Concerns
Fentanyl remains a big concern for police officers and sheriff’s deputies stationed at schools in Aspen.
At last month’s conference, various sessions focused on student drug use, which Daniel said is where his team learned about how fentanyl manifests in communities and how to educate students on the threat it poses.
“I obviously can't go without speaking of just an alarming spike of fentanyl nationwide,” Daniel said. “You can go online and buy a pill press and buy fentanyl for cheap. … I can't go without saying it’s always a big threat for us.”
In session descriptions shared with Aspen Public Radio, NASRO described fentanyl as “a weapon of mass destruction destroying a generation,” and “its intention is to kill and destroy Americans.”
More than a nationwide trend, the fentanyl crisis has hit Aspen. A student from Aspen High School died of a fentanyl overdose this spring, a few days after graduation.
Daniel and other school resource officers at the Aspen School District also learned how to protect students from financial sextortion, how to detect digital threats, and lessons from Uvalde’s school shooting in 2022 at this year's conference.
