When the new school year commences next week, Miami-Dade County Public Schools has assured the towns of Miami Lakes, Hialeah and Hialeah Gardens, through several agreements, that additional sworn police officers will be assigned to their schools to protect students and teachers from gun violence.
Since the Stoneman Douglas High shooting massacre, which took the lives of 17 students and teachers, the fourth largest school district in the nation trained and deployed new officers at every school in the county.
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill which funds $400 million to place at least one resource officer at every school in the state and programs to address mental illness among students.
Miami-Dade Public School recently swore-in nine new police officers as part of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, which trains and deploys new officers at district schools beginning on opening day.
The agreements (Memo of Understanding) provide guidelines as to the roles and responsibilities of the municipal police departments and the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department regarding the cities’ placement of school-based law enforcement officers (or SBLEOs) at Miami-Dade’s public schools.