If your kid goes to Daniels Canyon, Midway Elementary, J.R. Smith, or Wasatch High — there’s a deputy there every single day who knows their name.
That wasn’t always the case.
One Deputy. Eight Schools. The Whole County.
Not long ago, a single school resource officer covered every school in the Wasatch County School District. One deputy for thousands of students — from Heber Valley Elementary all the way out to Timpanogos Middle.
Most parents had no idea. Why would they? You moved to the Heber Valley because it doesn’t feel like the kind of place where you need to think about that. It’s the kind of place where you know your neighbors, your kids ride their bikes to the park, and you send them to school without a second thought.
But that feeling of safety and the reality of what was actually in place — those were two very different things.
Then the Threats Started Coming In
Around 2019, students started making specific threats against specific schools. It wasn’t just a Wasatch County problem — it was spreading across Utah and the country. But when it showed up here, in our schools, it made one thing uncomfortably clear: one deputy covering the entire district wasn’t a safety plan. It was a gap.
Think about what that actually means. If a threat came in at Daniels Canyon Elementary while that deputy was across town at Rocky Mountain Middle, someone’s child is in a building with no law enforcement presence — and help is minutes away. In those situations, minutes are everything.
That was the reality Wasatch County parents were living in without knowing it.
What Sheriff Rigby Did About It
He worked directly with the Wasatch County School District to put a full-time resource officer in every school in the county — including elementary schools. They split the cost 50/50 with the district. No other county in Utah was doing it that way. Wasatch County was first, and it happened in 2019.
The office now has 11 SROs, with contracts already in place as Deer Creek High School opens in 2026.
More Than Just a Badge in the Hallway
Here’s what most people don’t realize: putting a deputy in a school is only the beginning. The SROs in Wasatch County schools eat lunch in the cafeteria. They show up to the games. They learn which kids are struggling, which ones are quiet, which ones might open up to a deputy before they’d say a word to a teacher or a parent.
That trust is what actually prevents things. A student pulls a deputy aside in the hallway and says something feels off. A friend reports something they overheard. Those conversations happen because there’s a relationship — and relationships take time and presence to build.
Beyond that, SROs now conduct full safety assessments of every building — identifying weak points, updating protocols, and running real active shooter drills with staff. They bring teachers together, fire a weapon in the building so educators know what it actually sounds like, and walk them through exactly what to do in those first critical seconds. Not a slideshow. Real preparation for something no one wants to face but everyone needs to be ready for.
But There’s Still More to Do
Wasatch County is one of the fastest-growing counties in Utah. New neighborhoods are going up. Deer Creek High School opens next year. More families are moving into the valley every month — and every one of them is sending their kids to school assuming someone has thought this through.
Sheriff Rigby’s plan for the next term is to keep building on what’s working — expanding SRO training, deepening safety assessments across every campus, and making sure that as new schools come online, no building opens its doors without a deputy who already knows the kids walking through them.
Because the goal was never just to be first. It’s to stay ahead.
Sheriff Jared Rigby is running for re-election as Wasatch County Sheriff. See his full plan at sheriffjaredrigby.org.
