MIAMI (WSVN) - Over 300 South Florida officers participated in an orientation and training session to prepare for the upcoming school year.
The orientation, which was held at Miami Jackson Senior High School, included municipal and federal law enforcement agencies. These groups helped train school-based law enforcement officers (SBLEO) in Miami-Dade County.
“The 13th to the 14th, it’s like the world was flipped upside down,” said Miami-Dade Public Schools Lt. Julio Quinones.
The training is using lessons learned from the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School back in February.
“I’m cognizant enough to know that there is no method to create 100 percent safety,” said Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Edwin Lopez. “However, I feel that in South Florida, specifically Miami-Dade County, our schools are the safest in the nation.”
The officers also signed the Memoranda of Understanding during the orientation, helping the district ensure all schools have a sworn law enforcement presence.
“You will have one school designated with an officer present come Aug. 20 at each and every school site,” said Lopez. “We must work together in order to protect kids.”
School resource officer training is typically a 40-hour course, but Thursday morning’s session was condensed into an 8-hour crash course.
The training covered communication, advantages and disadvantages of social media, and adjusting general policing skills to a school setting.
The SBLEOs will help ensure that at least one uniformed officer will be assigned to each public school.
“It’s nearly impossible, based on our sheer staffing, to outfit every school in Miami-Dade County with a school board police officer,” said Lopez. “In order to meet the legislative mandate, we’ve had to form partnerships.”
These partnerships include North Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County, Hialeah and Miami Lakes.
“We assigned a whole unit,” said North Miami Beach Sgt. Alex Morales. “We have five officers and a sergeant assigned to the school resource officer program.”
Training will continue for over 300 officers on Friday, and next week is the final orientation with over 400 officers before the school year.
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