"Frankly, I don't know where I am with it yet," he says. "I have to question if we need (state) certified police officers, or if we could get by with less trained individuals (such as security guards) who could perform the same tasks for less."

While he says he understands district arguments that it may save money by preventing theft and vandalism, "a question I have is the liability we open up for school districts when we have a police force" — especially after a couple of shootings and some high-speed chases.

Kennard agrees. "Why would Granite want to take on that liability instead of police departments? It just takes one bad shooting for all the costs you think you have saved to go out the window" because of lawsuits, he said.

Holdaway said he plans to investigate further but may push a bill to ban spending education money for law enforcement.

Nielsen said he welcomes such scrutiny, and is used to it. "We've had to justify ourselves every year" in budget fights, he says.

"But we're still here. We've been here longer than the sheriff has," he said. And, Nielsen says, he is also now the longest-serving police chief in Salt Lake County. "I expect us to be here a lot longer," he said.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com