Protecting and mentoring: What school resource officers do in elementary schools
When the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Safety Act required armed officers or guardians in every Florida school starting in 2018, that created an opportunity for the Clermont Police Department: to add officers to all elementary schools since the Lake County Sheriff's Office was already in middle and high schools.
Investigation: Florida school resource officers are not required to undergo juvenile-specific training
While juvenile specific training is a requirement for school resource officers in Kissimmee, it is not a statewide requirement. According to state law, school resource officers are required to get โmental health crisis intervention trainingโ, but it does not have to be specific to juveniles. AdNew questions about school resource officers and training are now surfacing after two viral videos. But state lawmakers like Rep. Rene Plasencia do not feel school resource officers are equipped. Plasencia, a former teacher who goes by the nickname โCoach Pโ, saw counties struggle to find qualified school resource officers after the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas Act, laws passed after the school shooting in Parkland which, in part, required a school resource officer in every state public school.