Sheriff Mark Danels highlights county response programs, urges safer driving

Sheriff Mark Danels outlined several county public-safety efforts and urged drivers to be more cautious during his appearance on KWCD’s First Watch.

Danels described two school-safety initiatives: a school resource officer (SRO) assigned through the Naco School District and a School Security Officer program that places deputies in local schools on a 4-on/3-off schedule. "We're trying to keep cops at the schools, obviously, for prevention purposes, but also for the partnership with the kids," Danels said, noting staffing is a challenge across the roughly 21 schools the county serves.

Danels also described a county care team, coordinated with the Legacy Foundation, that responds to critical incidents and provides free follow-up support for first responders and families. He warned that a grant supporting the care team "expires July 1" and said sustaining the program will require new budgeting decisions. The sheriff said the program runs on about "$400,000 a year" and that he is coordinating a budget presentation with city managers and police chiefs to identify shared support.

On treatment resources, Danels said he attended a meeting with Community Medical Services, which operates an opioid treatment program at a plaza near El Camino and Wilcox across from the former hospital and Cochise College’s downtown campus. He described clinic services including counselors, methadone treatment and assistance enrolling people in insurance or other supports, and said law enforcement can hand off an individual to the clinic quickly when officers identify someone in need. "They're there to help people," he said, adding, "they're saving lives every day."

Danels promoted local community fundraising and training initiatives as well. He encouraged attendance at the Cars for Kids car show and auction on April 4, describing an HVAC system as the event’s headline auction item and saying proceeds will be split between the Boys & Girls Club of Sierra Vista (70 percent) and the Fraternal Order of Police (30 percent). He also discussed partnerships with Cochise College to host leadership, drone and detention-officer academies, and said county leaders hope to break ground on a jail project within about a year.

The sheriff closed with a driving-safety message based on a recent traffic stop. "Folks, you gotta pay attention," he said, urging drivers to obey signals, stop lines and beam laws to avoid preventable collisions.

Danels’ remarks provide a snapshot of ongoing county public-safety priorities and point to an imminent budget decision about sustaining the care team; no formal board action was announced during the appearance.