News and Investigations

"There is no one magic solution that will keep our kids safe in school. The Florida legislature is working on comprehensive bills to improve school safety in light of the massacre of innocents at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. I commend House Speaker Richard Corcoran and Senate President Joe Negron for their leadership and work to keep our children safe in schools. I support their efforts and I encourage everyone to reach out to their local legislators and tell them you support HB 7101 and SB 7026.

The bills have many provisions. The ones I think can make the most difference in keeping our kids safe are:

• Harden schools, make it harder for killers to get on campus
• Increase and enhance prevention training for school staff and children
• Give law enforcement more tools to intervene with kids and adults who make violent threats
• Give law enforcement the authority to hold any firearm of a person who is Baker Acted and has made a credible threat of violence against another person (with due process in place)
• Provide more resources for mental health treatment in Florida
• Provide more school resource law enforcement officers
• Give schools the option of adopting the Marshal Plan that will provide more well trained, well screened, adults on campus who can stop and active shooter

Regarding the Marshal Plan, let me clear up some misconceptions. I'm uniquely qualified to talk about it, because the proposals are based on our Sheriff's School Sentinel program, where we have a confidential concealed carry program and training system in place and working at a private University in our county.

First, the Marshal plan is completely optional for school districts and independent schools. Teachers or staff won't be forced to participate. The schools and local law enforcement will narrowly select qualified volunteers by doing back ground checks, drug screens, and psychological screening. Then, those volunteers will be trained by highly qualified law enforcement personnel for 132 hours in firearms, legal requirements, defensive tactics, and situational awareness. There are many layers of security and safety involving the staff and the firearms.

Here's the bottom line: a good guy with a gun is the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun. Yes, we can put in early warning systems, mental health interventions, hardened security, and law enforcement in place to hopefully prevent or interdict a killer on campus. But ultimately, school marshals or sentinels can be that last, best chance to stand between a killer and our children and grandchildren.

Ask yourself this question: if some crazed nut has gotten through all our prevention and security, and is walking down a school hallway with a gun towards your child, do you want someone there with a gun, and trained how to use it, to stop him before he kills your child? If your answer is yes, then please support this legislation." - Grady Judd, Sheriff