She remembers an incident at a school where she previously worked. Columbine and a string of other high-profile school shootings were constantly in the national news at the time. She had asked for extra police presence to put students and parents more at ease, but the extra police may have helped stop a shooting at her school, too.

"They noticed two suspicious kids (from another school) hanging out across from the school," she said. Upon investigation, Granite police found the kids had been driving a stolen car hidden nearby. They found the pair were probably aiming to shoot some targeted youths in a rival gang.

"I would have had either dead or injured kids without them, so that was huge," she said. What she appreciated more was that police handled it without notice of most of the school, except for notifying school officials and parents of targeted youths. "It's the sort of thing that can turn a school upside down if it's not handled well."

Extracurricular activities

While Nielsen says schools are the focus of his department, it has made news for incidents either outside the district or only marginally involving schools — such as the October high-speed chase and shooting in Salt Lake City. Others include:

• A 2001 high-speed chase that injured seven people, including three bystanders in South Salt Lake. A Granite officer chased the car, spotted at a 7-Eleven near Granite High School, after discovering it had a stolen license plate. Both Salt Lake and South Salt Lake have policies banning high-speed pursuits for such crimes. Police found a loaded gun in the car, and one occupant was wanted for forgery.

• A 1999 shooting when two Granite officers and two sheriff's deputies killed a man who reached for a shotgun after a chase ended on I-215 in Murray. The chase began in West Jordan (outside Granite School District) when a Granite officer spotted a car that matched one sought by West Jordan police for an armed robbery.

• A "routine traffic stop" last April by a Granite officer unexpectedly netted a man suspected of carjackings. An off-duty sheriff's deputy noticed the car pulled over and notified the officer that police were looking for the car.

The incidents raised several questions, including why school district police are in high-speed chases and shootings, and why school district police issue tickets for traffic violations.

Nielsen said such incidents are rare. His department has been involved in only two shootings. Statistics also show that issuing traffic citations is also fairly rare, with 39 issued in 2004 and 25 in 2003.

Nielsen said his officers do not go looking for traffic violations, "but if they see something flagrant, they are required by statute to take action. We do try to limit it. Unless it is very flagrant, we encourage them not to get involved," he said.