Hillsborough County is training more than 150 armed security guards for the coming school year.
The program is a response to a state law requiring added security for schools that passed in the wake of the massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School.
Many of the people in the Hillsborough County program have prior law enforcement or military training. Luis Camacho spent 20 years with the New York City Police Department before retiring in 2003 and wanted to be a part of the Hillsborough County Program.
“It’s something that I know I can do and I felt compelled to do it in light of all that’s been going on,” said Camacho.
Stephanie Nieto applied for the job because she’s been a Tampa police reserve officer, her father is in law enforcement and because of the violence in schools across the country.
“I couldn’t just sit around and just see all the stuff that’s been going on in the schools, you know. God forbid it happened to one of our schools,” said Nieto.
The people in the program go through a variety of training, including a three-week firearms training course.
Gary Gobernik spent 12 years as a Hillsborough County deputy and says the firearms training for this program is intense.
“The firearms training is a three-week course. It’s a guardian program. The sheriff’s office puts it on and it’s a great program. The people who have gone through it so far, it’s very intense, a lot of shooting,” said Gobernik.
This year, Hillsborough County will have a Tampa police officer, Hillsborough County deputy or an armed security guard who has been trained in this program in every school in the district.
