The short answer
A school resource officer, or SRO, is a law-enforcement role—not a generic name for any guard assigned to a school. Federal law defines an SRO as a career law-enforcement officer with sworn authority who is assigned by the employing police department or agency to work with schools and community organizations.
What to know
Arizona law is also specific. In the state School Safety Program, an SRO is a peace officer, a certified full-authority reserve peace officer, or a qualifying retired Arizona peace officer assigned by a law-enforcement agency. A “school safety officer” is an SRO working in an off-duty capacity. By contrast, a private School Security Officer is employed by or contracted through a licensed private-security agency and works under the school’s lawful contract and post orders. Arizona private-security employment does not confer peace-officer authority; those duties are performed as a private citizen.
Schools should identify the role by legal status and actual responsibilities, not use these titles interchangeably. Contracts and public-facing pages should state who employs and supervises the person, whether the person has current sworn authority, whether the post is armed, which school and youth-specific training applies, and who controls discipline, searches, emergency response, mandatory reporting, and law-enforcement referrals. Arrow’s current page uses “school resource officer” and “school safety officer” labels without explaining personnel status. Those labels should not be repeated as proof that a private assignment has sworn authority; Arrow should use “private School Security Officer” unless Arizona school-law counsel confirms the individual and arrangement fit the relevant statutory school resource officer or school safety officer definition.