Resource officers gather in Sandy to learn school safety lessons from Columbine survivors

SANDY — As students prepare to return to classrooms across Utah in just a few weeks, hundreds of school resource officers, educators and school administrators are spending three days preparing for the new school year by focusing on one goal: making schools safer.

The first Utah School Safety Summit, held this week at Alta High School in Sandy, brought together school resource officers from across the state to discuss topics ranging from mental health and suicide prevention to de-escalation techniques, gang awareness, school threats and online safety.

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Organizers said the goal is to give officers the tools they need to build relationships with students before problems become crises.

“This is the Utah Association of School Resource Officers school safety summit. This is our first rodeo, but we’re super excited that we’re doing it,” said Det. Chris Ruiz of the Pleasant Grove police, president of the Utah Association of School Resource Officers.

Ruiz said the timing of the conference is intentional.

“The reason why we’re doing this is because school is coming up. It’s around the corner. We want to advocate and provide resources and information, materials, tools and otherwise, to get these school resource officers on the right page so they know what they’re doing when they enter the school year,” said Ruiz.

Throughout the summit, officers attended sessions covering everything from online child exploitation and artificial intelligence in schools to youth diversion programs, school safety legislation and mental wellness for educators and law enforcement.

Ruiz said one of the most important parts of the job is building trust with students.

“We get to create that relationship of trust,” he said. “We have that positive impact, and the reality is these kids are going to grow up to be adults. We want to make sure they understand that we are the good guys. We can be trusted. We wanted to set them straight on the right path to adulthood.”

He said school resource officers often wear many hats beyond law enforcement.

“Being a school resource officer is very different and unique,” said Ruiz. “This isn’t your typical 8-to-5 type of job.”

He said officers become teachers, presenters, counselors and advocates while working inside schools, allowing them to get to know students personally and help bridge the gap between young people and law enforcement.

“We are not just SROs, but we’re teachers. We’re presenters. We’re counselors. We’re advocates. That’s what makes our job so unique,” he said.

One of Tuesday’s keynote presentations came from Laura Hall and Sarah Bush, sisters who survived the 1999 Columbine High School shootings.

The two shared their experiences with attendees while discussing how lessons learned from that tragedy continue to influence school safety today.

Some of those lessons include clearing schools faster, taking students out of the school using a path where they won’t see the carnage and even organizing a gathering place to reunite with families.

Ruiz said hearing directly from people who lived through tragedies provides lessons that extend beyond classroom instruction.

“Some of the subject matter that we have in this conference is a little deep,” he said. “Some of our presenters have really gone out of their way to come out of their shell to talk about personal experiences of tragedy, of loss. We thank them for that because we can learn from their experiences.”

For many of the officers attending, Columbine is a case they have studied for years.

Organizers said hearing from survivors reinforces that school safety is not only about how officers respond during an emergency, but also about recognizing warning signs, building relationships and creating trust long before a crisis occurs.

“There’s so much at stake across the country,” said Ruiz. “School safety and security is paramount. That’s why we go through so much training. We go to this conference not just to learn, per se, and not to network as much, but really to absorb what’s out there so we can be better as school resource officers.”

Ruiz said he hopes this year’s inaugural summit becomes the first of many, giving school resource officers across Utah an opportunity to continue learning from one another before welcoming students back to campus each fall.