Orange County commission approves plan to hire 75 new resource officers
Orange County commissioners on Tuesday approved $11 million in extra funding that would go toward the hiring of additional school resource officers.
The request for extra funding came from Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings and comes after Demings publicly sparred with Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs over the issue of school safety.
Jacobs and Demings, who's running for mayor, have been at odds over when the county found out there weren't enough deputies to fully cover all the schools.
The district needs 75 deputies to keep all the schools staffed and secured.
In the new school year, deputies have been working overtime to make sure each school is covered
A law passed after the deadly school shooting in Parkland calls for armed guards on every school campus in the state.
Jacobs claimed that she found out just 60 hours before the new school year was set to begin that deputies assigned to schools would not be there the whole day.
Demings responded by saying his office was shifting deputies and paying overtime to protect every Orange County school. He claimed Jacobs’ claims were politically motivated.
Demings is running for Orange County mayor, Jacobs for School Board Chair.
Demings said deputies might have to leave the schools they're working on rare occasions, including because of an arrest or illness.
The new state law requiring protection at every school is not clear whether a resource officer is required to be on campus all day, every day.
The funding request will be discussed at the Orange County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.