Following the deadly high school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Hernando County Sheriff Al Neinhuis wants to make sure there is a school resource deputy at every school in the county going forward.

  • Two goals for more deputies on campuses: deter, respond
  • Currently little over half of county schools have resource deputies
  • Sheriff asked County Commission, School Board to split cost of training

Sheriff Neinhuis said he has two goals with putting more school deputies on county campuses: deter and respond.

"Having a patrol car out front and having a uniform presence in the school but not knowing exactly where that person is going to be at any given minute does help deter somebody that's wanting to do something bad," Nienhuis said.

"And God forbid if they have to respond at least there's somebody there immediately to take action," he added.

Nienhuis said currently a little over half of the county's schools have permanent school resource deputies. He said with the addition of 11 more deputies, they will be able to expand to all schools, including elementary schools, and have extra to cover if anyone needs time off.

He also stressed all of his school resource deputies undergo intensive training each year, learning how to respond to different high stress situations that might occur. That's why he believes it would be better to have deputies within school walls.

"Sometimes in the heat of the moment deciding exactly when to pull that trigger would be difficult. It's nothing like TV," Nienhuis explained.

Many elementary school parents and grandparents we talked to are in support of having deputy at their kids school at all times. However, some say the deputies' presence would go a step further than just protection.

"They can get to know that individual and that authority and that person to help at a very young age and become a part of the whole system, and I think that's very important for them to learn at this time," Thomas Goossens, who has grandchildren that attend Chocachatti Elementary School, said.

"You also have storms, hurricanes, all those kinds of things going on, so one more person to help especially at the elementary level is amazing," he added.

The sheriff has asked both the county commissioners and the school board to split the cost of hiring and training new deputies and any overtime of trained deputies for the remainder of his current fiscal year.

He also has had officers at every school in the county following the Parkland shooting.