School Resource Officers (SRO) begin training at the Southwest Florida Public Service Academy for the upcoming Fall semester in Lee County.
The Cape Coral Police Department, Fort Myers Police Department and the Lee County Sheriff's Office will have a total of 100 officers in different Lee County Schools during the next school year. Although this training isn't mandatory, officers say it will help them be more prepared for any challenges that come their way.
Lieutenant Jay Rodriguez with the Fort Myers Police Department said, "We need to secure our children. I mean there's no other asset out there as a community that we need to protect more than our kids."
Friday's classroom training was the beginning of a 40 hour training to be completed this summer. Lee County officers say this training will help teach not only how to bond with and educate the students, but also help them be more prepared to protect students from anything or anyone trying to cause them harm.
"It's unfortunate that we live in a time now where this continues to happen over and over and over again, so with law enforcement, it's what we do. We adapt to the times and what's out there for us and this is it."
The Cape Coral Police Department has a total of 25 SRO's in training and and will have one officer in every school and a floating officer. The Fort Myers Police Department will have 17 SRO's in 16 schools. The Lee County Sheriff's Office will have 58 SRO's and are determining where their needs are for the next school year.
