Back to School: Broward schools, law enforcement stress safety ahead on new school year
FORT LAUDERDALE - With the start of the new school year about a week away, the Broward Sheriff's Office and Superintendent Dr. Vickie Cartwright are stressing safety.
Sheriff Gregory Tony said they've invested millions of dollars into programs to train their officers.
He said their training on active shooter preparedness takes lessons from other tragedies, including most recently the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.
Tony said during active shooter training, they make sure that law enforcement is moving in a rapid and effective manner so they don't have unnecessary managerial decisions impacting their actions during an emergency.
"We've had over 1,000 different opportunities and operations where we've examined close threats on schools or school grounds and had almost flawless responses when it came to deploying law enforcement personnel to those cites to mitigate any threats," said Tony.
Superintendent Cartwright said safety begins before the child leaves home.
"Please parents, caregivers, and guardians, check your child's backpack before you leave the house. If they're driving, please check their car. Make sure they're not bringing something to the school that they shouldn't be bringing," she said.
Cartwright also said an extra layer of protection they're adding this year is handheld metal detectors to randomly search during the school day.