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Orange County Approves Funding For 75 School Resource Officers

Orange County Sheriff's Office (Dave Conner, Wiki Media)
Orange County Sheriff's Office (Dave Conner, Wiki Media)

The Orange County Commission approved funds to hire 75 new Sheriff’s deputies to be used as school resource officers.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings requested $11 million from the county to pay for the new officers.

The deputies will be assigned to schools in unincorporated Orange County. The board voted unanimously for the funding.
School resource officers are mandated in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, passed in the wake of the February shooting.

In a memo to the county, Demings said all efforts to expedite the deployment of the officers will be applied.

Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.