The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office received the Model School Resource Officer Agency Award at the National Association of School Resource Officers’ annual conference in July.

School-resource officers are trained to educate and counsel students while also serving a general law-enforcement function in the schools.

The award is given annually to a law enforcement agency that has exhibited excellence in implementing or maintaining a school-resource officer program.

“I think it was the fact that we’re able to strike a very nice balance between that law enforcement, counselor and resource person in the schools,” Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.

Award recipients are graded for their levels of training, the comprehensiveness of their policies and procedures, and the overall quality of their daily operations. Judges interview officers and school district officials and review an agency’s educational curriculum.

“We’re very proud of receiving the award and the recognition,” Robinson said. “It’s all the result of the hard work those seven men and women do.”

Seven county deputies and one supervisor work in K-12 schools in the unincorporated areas of Arapahoe County, the city of Centennial and the town of Deer Trail.

The nonprofit National Association of School Resource Officers represents more than 9,000 school-resource officers.