LAKELAND, Fla. - At least one armed law enforcement officer will be stationed at each Polk County school for the remaining three and a half days of the school year, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The move comes "out of an abundance of caution" following a shooting at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas, where at least eight students were killed and others were injured.
"What we want to make sure is that we clearly send a message," Judd said. "Whether it's adults who make any kind of threat or students or kids that make any kind of threats towards the schools, they will be investigated and arrested," Judd said. "If you're a juvenile, there won't be any of this diversion business. You're going to be arrested, taken to the JAC center and locked up."
Pasco County students will also see more law enforcement at their schools.
"While there are no current threats against Pasco County schools, out of an abundance of caution, in light of the tragedy today at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, we will have a heavy law enforcement presence near schools throughout Pasco County for the remainder of the school year," the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.
Students in Tampa schools will notice the same.
"We're all on the same page,'' Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan said in a statement. "While there are no threats to our schools, we've all agreed we're going to take a proactive approach. Students and teachers should be able to go to school and feel safe, and parents should feel comfortable sending their children to school."
So will those in unincorporated Hillsborough County.
"We must always be ready to react and adapt when something horrific confronts us without notice," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
Mandated school security
Polk's decision comes nearly a month after school board members approved a plan to train and arm school employees through a School Safety Guardian program.
Following the mass shooting in Parkland, every district in Florida is required by state law to have someone with a gun trained to take out an active shooter at every school by the next school year.
Polk schools didn't have enough money to have a resource officer at every school but didn't want to arm educators, which led to the guardian program.
The state is giving the district $3.3 million, which is almost enough to pay for all of them for the first year. The district will have to cover the rest of the roughly $400,000 cost.
The guardian program is similar to one in place at two Polk County colleges.
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