CITRUS COUNTY, Fla.—In case you missed it, Citrus County Sheriff Michael Prendergast shared his support for Senator Rick Scott’s School Guardian Act in a recent Citrus County Chronicle op-ed. Senator Scott’s legislation would create a block grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Justice supporting the hiring of one or more law enforcement officers to provide full-time security at every K-12 school in the country, including all public, private and religious schools.

In addition to Sheriff Prendergast’s recent endorsement, Senator Scott’s proposal has been endorsed by Stand With Parkland, the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, the National Association of School Resource Officers, the National Sheriffs’ Association, the Florida Association of School Resource Officers, the Indiana Sheriffs’ Association, and the Pennsylvania Association of School Resource Officers.

Sheriff Michael Prendergast writes, “Recent tragic events around the country have once again brought the issue of school safety to the forefront of the national conversation. As Sheriff of Citrus County, I have seen firsthand the importance of having well-trained, armed law enforcement officers in our schools to protect our students and staff. It is vital that we take immediate action to protect our children and provide a safe learning environment. For these very reasons, I am expressing my full support for Sen. Rick Scott’s recent proposal placing a sworn law enforcement officer on every school campus in the country. Following the horrific mass shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Sen. Scott has introduced a new bill in the U.S. Senate called the School Guardian Act of 2023.

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 “Sen. Scott seeks to build upon his efforts as governor of Florida, where he helped pass the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Act in 2018 to improve school safety across the state with increased law enforcement and security measures. Since passage of that legislation five years ago, Florida has been extremely successful in improving school safety and continues to set the standard for the rest of the nation. I have no doubt that this model could be expanded and enhanced to a national level to ensure consistency of services, effectiveness in deployment, and afford top-quality protection across all K-12 campuses in the country.

Law enforcement officers who are assigned to a school build positive relationships with students, staff, and parents. These interactions can help to prevent incidents of violence or other criminal activity, and identify potential threats before they escalate. In Citrus County, we have sworn deputies assigned to nearly every public school in our community and one contracted at Seven Rivers Christian School. While each one is acutely focused on safety and security, they also work diligently on educating and working with our schools in preparing students to make good life choices along with instructing them on the consequences of violating the law.

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 “Over the past several years, our School Resource Deputy Program has undergone extensive training in areas such as de-escalation, crisis response tactics, use of force, criminal investigation and the handling of high-pressure situations. They work tirelessly to prepare for any potential threats through annual joint trainings on critical responses and mock drills at school facilities with their staff. In 2019, the Sheriff’s Office invited the US Department of Homeland Security to provide their weeklong, in-depth Active Shooter Threat Training Program to all our SRDs. To further bolster our continuous preparedness, we had the Florida Department of Law Enforcement provide their Active Threat Response course to all of our SRDs just last summer. Later this year, we have the U.S. Secret Service coming in to train our deputies and other sheriff’s office staff on their course, Enhancing School Safety Using a Threat Assessment Model and Key Findings of Averted and Targeted School Violence.

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 “Sen. Scott’s School Guardian Act is a common-sense approach to ensuring the safety of our schools by having a sworn, law enforcement officer in every public and private school across the U.S. I pledge my full support to Sen. Rick Scott and his School Guardian Act. I urge everyone to back this important legislation which has already received endorsements from the Florida Sheriffs Association, the Florida Police Chiefs Association, and Stand with Parkland – The National Association of Families for Safe Schools. We have an obligation to our children and our communities to do everything we can to prevent another tragic school shooting and keep our schools safe…”

Read the full op-ed in the Citrus County Chronicle HERE.

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