PARKLAND, FLA. (WSVN) - Broward Sheriff Scott Israel announced, Wednesday, that all qualified deputies will begin carrying rifles on school grounds in Broward County.
At a news conference Wednesday, Israel talked about prevention, saying, “My approach to this whole thing is never again. Our deputies who are qualified and trained will be carrying rifles on school grounds from this point forward,” said Israel.
Deputies have already been carrying handguns on campus but not rifles.
He added, “Laws have to be changed. We can’t do the same old, same old. We can’t throw around the line, ‘Let’s have conversation.’ We have to do proactive things, and even if these things don’t work out — so what? We did something differently, we tried something new to keep children safe.”
Parents and students in Parkland had mixed reactions to the news.
“We have to protect our kids, but having rifles being shown — it’s like we’re not sending our kids to school, we’re sending them to prison,” said parent Debbie Block. “It makes me sick to my stomach.”
“I think it’s a little bit scarier,” said student Capri Lica, “just because I don’t think those big guns are, like, necessary.”
BSO deputies patrol school’s in cities without heir own police department — like Cypress Bay High School, where Thursday morning, the new safety procedures were put in place.
“It will make a difference as long as they can do what they need to do with it,” said parent Preia Chand.
Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principal’s and Assistant’s Association, shared a skeptical reaction. “You’re upping the anxiety levels, potentially, at schools,” said Maxwell.
BSO has asked the school district to allow deputies to store their rifles in on campus offices during the day and then to take them home at night.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools told 7News that its officers secure their rifles in locked containers in their vehicles, and that there are no plans to change that.
“It’s kept in a secured vehicle in a locked container,” said Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Ian A. Moffett. “We have policy procedures on it. Our officers go through annual training. They have to qualify for it.”
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