Arizona
Arizona getting creative to fill school resource officer shortage, but is it working?
PHOENIX (AZFamily) —With the start of the new school year upon us, the safety of our students is at the top of our minds.
The state is pushing to add more school resource officers or SROs, but as Arizona’s Family Investigates has reported, the police officer shortage has made that challenging.
The Arizona Department of Education said it has more school resource officers this year and is using off-duty police officers to fill some of those positions through a new initiative.
Dozens of school districts across the state that couldn’t get an SRO because of the shortage are instead using school safety officers or SSOs. These are off-duty police officers who sign up for the assignment.
The Phoenix Union High School District—one of the largest high school districts in the country—brought back SROs following an incident in September 2022. Reports of an active shooter on the campus of Central High School sent students and staff running. Fortunately, no active shooter was found.
However, it took several months for the Phoenix Police Department to come up with officers to give them.
Arizona’s Family Investigates asked Mo Canady, the Executive Director of the National Association of SROs, about that shortage.
“That’s a real problem. It’s easy for me to advocate for an SRO in every school in the country, which I believe we should have,” he responded.
His group held their annual conference in Phoenix this week.
He explained SRO’s do more than security, they serve as informal counselors and build relationships with kids.
But this shortage has impacts. It meant some SROs in our state had to cover more than one school.
Arizona’s Family Investigates asked Canady if he believed that “they can be effective in that situation.” He answered, “It’s better than no SRO at all. But it’s very difficult to be effective when you’re having to move around to different schools.”
Craig Avery, an SRO at South Valley Junior High in Gilbert, knows that all too well. When he started in that position eight years ago, he was assigned to three junior highs and 30 elementary and charter schools.
“It’s good just to be within a specific set of admin, a specific set of board directors and faculty, kind of focus my efforts and not be spread so thin,” Avery said. “Way beyond just the safety of the school, being able to educate these kids,” he continued.
To combat the shortage, state lawmakers approved using off-duty police officers. These SSOs could be at a school one or two days a week and don’t have as much training as SROs.
The state tells us it’s starting the school year with 301 SROs, up from 214 last year. They’ve also got nearly 700 SSOs.
“With the implementation of the school safety officer program, it’s given other officers the opportunity to see what it’s like to be on school campuses,” Steve Dieu, the President of the Arizona SRO Association, said. He hopes it could lead more of them to consider the position full-time.
The Phoenix Union High School District said it would have four SROs and two SSOs for this upcoming school year. They’ll each be assigned to two schools, and the district explains that these SSOs will likely be different every day.
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PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — A person accused of making terroristic threats toward a northern Arizona medical facility was arrested Friday morning.
Just after 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a person calling the facility and threatening to kill staff and Native Americans, according to the Page Police Department.
Authorities said staff placed the facility on lockdown until officers identified the suspect and arrested them outside their home.
The suspect was booked on charges of disorderly conduct, threatening and intimidating, and making terroristic threats. Police have not publicly identified the person.
“The Page Police Department is grateful for and supports the medical staff’s decision to put the medical facility into lockdown until the suspect was arrested and the situation was rendered safe,” the department said in a Facebook post.
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
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