LCSO working to hire dozens of new school resource officers

Author: resource officers
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The Lee County Sheriff’s Office is working against the clock to place more state resource officers at every school before August.

The Valentine’s Day shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School left 17 students and faculty dead prompting Gov. Rick Scott to issue the new state mandate.

“I think it’s a needed thing now, and you can’t have some at some schools and not at others,” parent Tara Walk said.

It will cost the school district more than $8 million to hire and train certified officers.

Gina Britton provides up and coming resource officers with 40 hours of crisis intervention training — a requirement that focuses on how to verbally communicate and deescalate tough situations.

“If someone is going to have a lifelong struggle with mental illness it’s going to hit them in their teens,” Britton said.

The school board met Tuesday to discuss who will bare the cost of the additional resource officers.

More: Charlotte, Collier counties searching for resource officer candidates

More: ‘Keep the children safe’: New security resource officer begins placement at Lee school

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