Orange County mayor blasts sheriff on school resource officer information

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Sheriff Jerry Demings reignited their fight Wednesday over how to get a law enforcement officer in every school for every hour of the day.

They both said communication has been an issue.

Jacobs, who is running for school board chair, has contended that she expected there to be a school resource officer at every school this year. She said if funding had been an issue, she would have included it in her budget.

On Monday, Demings said that every Orange County school physically had an officer on campus, but it’s still unclear how long that manpower will last.

School Board Chairman Bill Sublette agrees with the sheriff, who said it could take months or even a year to hire and train qualified deputies.

“It’s not a problem. It’s not a crisis. It’s just something that’s going to take more than a few months to solve,” Sublette said.

Demings said he would need 75 additional officers to provide the presence of at least one school resource officer at each school during school hours.

But Wednesday, Jacobs said she just learned about the additional officers needed to staff the schools.

“If he needed 75 positions for this school year, the time to start hiring them, in my personal opinion, would have been in April or March, not letting me know the Friday before school,” Jacobs said.

She said she thought the plan was clear.

“It was to utilize existing staff through overtime staffing. That was the plan. That was abundantly clear,” she said.

The mayor said she is still waiting on the final funding request and that she would like to put it on the upcoming agenda.

Channel 9's Megan Cruz asked Demings during a news conference Wednesday afternoon if there is a dedicated deputy at each of the 116 schools in unincorporated Orange County.

"What we have been able to do since school started this week -- we've been able to deploy deputy sheriffs to all of the schools," Demings said. "For the security of and the protection of our children, we don't get into what hours, when they're there, when they're not there."

Before the news conference, Sublette said parents have a right to know those deputies might not be there much longer.

"Will there be a sworn (law enforcement officer) in every one of our schools in three weeks, four weeks at the elementary school level?" Sublette said. "Probably not. If we're honest about it, not every single day, every hour of the day."

Jacobs said she never met with Demings in person to discuss the issue.

"Our staffs have been talking on this," Jacobs said.

"Specifically, when was the last time you had a conversation with the sheriff about this issue?" Channel 9's Karen Parks said.

"Why won't you ask the sheriff when was the last time he had a conversation with me?" Jacobs said.

Demings said Jacobs is creating controversy because she is running for Orange County School Board chair and he is running for Orange County mayor.

Jacobs said she is calling attention to the confusion, because she believes families expected a dedicated resource officer at each school all day long throughout the school year.

Cox Media Group