The Seminole County Tax Collector is instituting a policy to have deputy tax collectors and deputy revenue officers openly carrying firearms for security and to protect the county’s assets.
Tax Collector Joel Greenberg said his offices see 30 to 40,000 people a month and “a lot of times they’re unhappy to be there, so there are times where people do become out of control or frustrated or along the lines of, to the point where we would need security, you know there’s all sorts of fraud that goes on.”
Greenberg said there are certain times of the year where their offices have lots of cash on hand and no security.
He said some of his employees are licensed to carry concealed weapons and already do so. But he believes in today’s world open carry would be more of a crime deterrent.
Greenberg said this policy will save money. He said bids from private security companies were running up to $400,000.
15 to 20 tax office employees are expected to open carry when the policy goes into effect in early August.