SODA SPRINGS — Soda Springs Police Chief Jon Bunderson knows exactly how many trees are planted around the local elementary school and he can sometimes tell when a new crack has formed in the sidewalk. That’s because he’s spent a lot of time on the grounds and he pays close attention to what’s happening around him.

But it’s not really trees and sidewalk cracks that Bunderson is looking for. It’s potential threats that he hopes to stop before they can turn into bigger problems.

Bunderson, who has served in law enforcement for nearly four decades, has spent the last few years creating what he calls the Guardian Program. It’s his solution to preventing the type of mass murders and violence that has occurred at schools, churches and events around the nation.

“It’s designed to be implemented through the police department or a law enforcement agency,” said Bunderson, adding that seven of his officers are currently involved in the program.

One of the unique features of the Guardian Program is that it relies on full-time police officers stationed outside of schools at access points, rather than school resource officers or other types of security inside.

Although no plan is invincible, Bunderson hopes an officer stationed outside of the building would be able to help prevent a potential threat from ever getting inside.

“I don’t want to invite the devil in to dinner,” he said. “I want to keep him outside.”

Bunderson says using active police officers is the best way to do that. They go through regular training and can draw from important skills they use everyday. For instance, they know how to spot unusual activity and identify deceitful behaviors. They can also assess and respond to potential threats, and they recognize that there are many types of weapons out there because they’ve faced a lot of them.

Such knowledge can be an important line of defense, especially when it comes to dealing with threats that can come at any time and in just about any way imaginable.

“With the changes in society, we must become and remain fluid in our mental process and tactics. There are no panaceas for all circumstances or environments,” according to a Soda Springs Police Department Facebook post about the Guardian Program. “A weapon, tool, or tactic is only as useful as the person wielding it.”

Bunderson is trying to give his officers the training they need to respond to a variety of threats rather than one specific kind.

“Utilizing a response which works in the most given of all situations should be the focus,” according to the Facebook post.

Bunderson said they implemented the first phase of their program last fall by stationing an officer on the elementary school grounds during peak hours.

He chose to start there because the younger students are the most vulnerable since they don’t really know how to run from or fight a threat.

Bunderson said they’ve now started to implement the second phase: stationing an officer at the high school, where students have more potential to cause a threat.

Eventually as resources allow, he plans to have an officer stationed at every school throughout the day and during events.

Bunderson said the officers come in their standard gear, although they have the ability to access more in the event of an emergency.

He hopes the sight of the officers will help parents and students feel safer and deter people who are thinking about committing a crime.

Although they haven’t had to respond to any major incidents since they started the program, Bunderson does think it’s helping.

He said traffic has calmed down simply because officers are present, and the officers are learning which people and vehicles frequent the area. This helps them spot unusual activity.

Bunderson said he was filling in one day when he noticed two men in an unfamiliar vehicle who appeared to be watching the preschool. Through contact and investigation, he learned that the men from Utah had criminal histories. They told him that they were selling items door-to-door and he had no evidence to the contrary, he said, but he advised them to leave the area. They haven’t returned since.

“What they were up to, I don’t know,” Bunderson said. “But I didn’t get a good feeling about it.”

Bunderson believes officers should not only respond to criminal incidents, but do whatever they can to prevent potential threats and protect the public. The Guardian Program is one way of doing that.

Although Soda Springs is a small city of a few thousand people, bad things have happened in other small towns, and Bunderson feels it’s important to be prepared for any threats that could come in today’s society.

“I hope I’m wrong,” he said, adding that if he is, preparing for such incidents doesn’t hurt anything. “But if I am right and we did nothing about it, I couldn’t live with myself.”