PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) - The Florida Guardian Program is an active shooter training for school employees. It was started in 2018, after the Parkland High School shooting, to enable law enforcement to help employers and staff respond to an active threat and when faced with an active shooter.
For the past few years, Bay District Schools and the Bay County Sheriff’s Office have been working together to get Guardian certified.
“The schools, the police departments, the surrounding agencies, they needed an extra layer of security and some help,” Bay District School Chief of Police Douglas Boortz said.
“We want every possible tool and technique to keep our kids safe,” Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said.
The six-week program occurs during the summer, where teachers and other school staff members go through rigorous firearm basic training, shooting, role-playing scenarios, and more.
Sheriff Ford said these trainings are the same ones law enforcement had to go through.
“The difference is, is they have to score five points higher than even a law enforcement basic recruit, so there’s a pretty high bar there for their qualification on their performance with a handgun,” Sheriff Ford said.
Not everybody who wants to join the program will qualify though. They must pass a background check, psychological screening, and assessments.
Officials also said everyone interested must have their concealed weapons permit before joining the program or after they complete it.
Everyone must...
Federal grand jury charges Farmington Hills adult daycare manager with billing Medicare for therapy never provided A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Michigan returned an indictment ch...