Sheriff Slaughter’s Reserve SRO Program Takes Its First Step.
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Great Falls Public Schools began the 2026–27 school year with five full-time School Resource Officers from the Great Falls Police Department, an increase from the four officers who had traditionally covered the district. While Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter’s proposed reserve-deputy SRO program was not ready to be fully implemented for the new school year, the district will nevertheless have access to a CCSO reserve deputy when additional law-enforcement support is needed.
Under the current arrangement, the reserve SRO can be requested when GFPD officers need an additional set of hands, extra eyes, or additional support for a situation. Requests will be coordinated through the SRO leadership and the Great Falls Police Department or Sheriff Slaughter, allowing the reserve deputy to be brought into the school environment when circumstances require additional personnel.
The arrangement represents a practical first step toward the broader reserve SRO concept Sheriff Slaughter proposed to the school district. The proposed program had been under discussion since 2025, including an agreement that would have established a more formal relationship between CCSO, GFPS and GFPD, but that agreement had not yet returned to the school board for approval. Meanwhile, Slaughter has moved forward with building his reserve-deputy program, including hiring two reserve deputies following a 2025 state law change allowing counties to compensate reserve deputies.
For the 2026–27 school year, the result is a five-officer full-time SRO team with a reserve deputy available to supplement that team when circumstances call for additional support. It illustrates one of the practical advantages of reserve personnel: even before a larger dedicated program is fully operational, a trained reserve deputy can provide an additional resource when a school district and its full-time officers need it.
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