By Alexis Ford

According to the Pima County Police Department’s website a school resource officer’s role is dedicated to ensuring the safety of a school’s campus. “The mission of an SRO goes beyond traditional law enforcement. They engage with students as mentors and role models through sports, board games, and sharing meals,” says the site. This interaction helps to establish trust, creating a positive environment where students feel comfortable reaching out for support.

Bryan Wiggins is the school resource officer at Ironwood Ridge. Mr. Wiggins isn’t new here on campus, in fact, he worked here from 2010-2015. When speaking about his return to campus it seems he’s happy to be back. While reflecting on his time at IRHS in the early twenty-tens, he says that his daily responsibilities were different. At the time, recreational marijuana had not been legalized at the state level and THC and vaping weren’t as much of an issue. There were also more kids on campus at the time and the staff was different. During his first year back Officer Wiggins says that he spends his time, “mainly getting used to Ironwood’s campus again, seeing lots of new faces, and just getting to know the kids.” Wiggins says that his time is mainly spent dealing with issues regarding vapes, parking issues and fights. While his time is consumed by these infractions, it’s important to note that it’s his responsibility to deal with them and that the situations he handles are outliers and not pervasive.