School Resource
The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office provides a School Resource Officer to Rio Rico High School and Desert Shadows Middle School. This individual enhances school security while also mentoring students and disseminating information on a wide variety of relevant topics to the entire school community. Because schools are where most kids spend their day, they provide the greatest opportunity to work with young people in preventing delinquent behavior and developing positive attitudes. 
The School Resource Officer program (SRO) is a nationally accept program involving the placement of a law enforcement officer within the educational environment. The officer, while in school, is involved in a variety of functions aimed at prevention. Besides being an active high profile law enforcement officer, the SRO is a resource for students, parents, teachers and administration regarding law issues.
Another duty for the SRO is being a link to other service agencies which provide preventive and counseling services within the school district. Working hand in hand with the Principal in each school, the SRO assists with finding solutions to problems affecting school age children.
The SRO program is a proactive approach to deal with the pressures today's young people find themselves having to confront. This includes the use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco, along with peer pressure, gang activity, and sex. These situations are not only in the schools, but in the community as well.