The Safe Schools Unit consists of part-time Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officers and full-time school resource officers (SRO). Assignment to the Safe Schools Unit is voluntary. Officers selected for the assignment are required to undergo specialized training before deployment.

The DARE curriculum is delivered by a uniformed police officer thus allowing the officers involved to interact with and instruct students in the school environment. The program is intended to assist school-aged children with the development of skills necessary to identify and resist social pressures to experiment with drugs and alcohol, and to reduce the incidence of violence among teens. The core curriculum is presented to the 5th grade students.

The School Resource Officer position is intended to provide a uniformed police presence in Cherokee High School to help stabilize the educational environment and provide the students, staff and school administrators with a liaison to the police department. The presence of these officers has engendered a cooperative effort between the school and law enforcement communities designed to identify groups and individuals whose purpose may be to disrupt educational and/ or extra-curricular activities, threaten or intimidate individuals or groups, or cause personal injury or property damage. Additionally, these officers are available to provide advice and guidance to students and staff, and where necessary, recommend and refer students and their families to the appropriate agency for counseling and/ or treatment of various societal problems. Currently there are two SRO's assigned to Cherokee High School.