Many school districts have on-the-scene support in the form of law enforcement officers, with most serving as either school resource officers (SROs) or school patrol officers (SPOs). One serves as a resource; the other, a peacekeeper.

Oneida County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Aaron Avard oversees the office’s school resource and school patrol officers. Law enforcement is present at all school districts in Oneida County.

“These men and women are passionate about what they're doing. They're protectors. They're generally parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters before they're officers, and they're there with that mentality,” said Avard.

The law enforcement members are armed and thoroughly trained.

“School resource officers will not only have the same training that any police officer has just to be a police officer, they’re certified in New York as a police officer. They also have SRO-specific training," Avard said.

The National Association of School Resource Officers says an SRO is trained in school-based law enforcement and crisis response, using community-oriented policing concepts.

Avard said the primary function of an SPO is to keep the peace. They may break up fights and call for backup.

“They have a seven-week peace officer academy that we offer, as well as whatever training they had preceding their careers as a special patrol officer," Avard said.

Avard said every threat that comes in is investigated.

While the job is serious, the hope is to be a positive presence for schools.

“We do have continuous updates with our training. We really try to be fairly therapeutic in our approach," Avard said. "And we're not there to arrest people. We're there to try to help people make better decisions, try to keep people feeling safe, because we're there."