Q: Can you give an update on school safety in St. Johns County?
A: In light of the recent school shooting in Georgia as well as incidents locally at Tocoi Creek High School and Sebastian Middle School, I think this is a good time to go over what we are doing to keep our students safe — and remind parents of things they can do to help us.
First, there are many ways that parents and community members can report tips to us: there is our non-emergency number ((904) 824-8304), people can also call 911 or email us at crimetips@sjso.org, or utilize the Fortify Florida (FortifyFL) app, which allows tips to be sent electronically and immediately to school staff and law enforcement.
Q: Can you give some more information about the FortifyFL app?
A: This app can be found in your smartphone’s app store and downloaded. It was created after the tragedy in February 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. We’ve already received 84 tips from this app and in fact, tips for both incidents mentioned above (Tocoi Creek and Sebastian Middle School) came from the FortifyFL app. I encourage all parents and community members to download this app, and if you see something suspicious, report it. I also challenge students and parents to get to know the Youth Resource Deputy in their school.
Q: What happens when you get a tip on FortifyFL?
A: We begin with threat assessment. This includes evaluating a student’s history and previous behavior and then conducting interviews with family and friends. This can all take place pretty quickly, as this is the second school year that we have two deputy sheriffs on staff who do nothing but evaluate threat assessments in schools. They work with the St. Johns County School District, the FBI, and our Real Time Intelligence Center, which has access to all school cameras and can view emergencies in real time.
Q: After threat assessment, how are the threats categorized?
A: There are three categories — low, medium, and high. Low threat means that there is no sustained intent to harm or indication that the threat will be carried out. Medium indicates the intent to harm is present or not clear and requires protective action. High threat means the facts and circumstances indicate the threat is legitimate and violence may be imminent.
Q: What other means are utilized to keep schools safe?
A: We have a deputy sheriff in every public school in the county (schools within the city of St. Augustine have a police officer from the St. Augustine Police Department in each school). We also work with private schools, which either have a security guard through the guardianship program or an off-duty law enforcement officer. All of our deputies working in the 42 public schools receive advanced training on how to handle school threats. We have two new K9 units trained to sniff narcotics and gun metal assigned to public schools. Also, the Centegix mobile alarm system was implemented in our schools in 2022 and we continue to work with the school district to meet the requirements of the Safer Schools Act.
Q: You mentioned there are ways for parents to help in this regard?
A: Definitely. Parents need to be more involved in their student’s life … make sure you have access to their social media and gaming platforms and to their room. Hold your students accountable for their actions.
If you see something, say something. We take all threats very seriously and any kind of threat — written, verbal, on social media — can lead to an arrest of the student and sometimes the parents.
Q: What is the best way for our readers to contact you with any questions or suggestions about this article?
A: They can email me at sheriff@sjso.org or call me at (904) 824-8304. Also, our website, www.sjso.org has a wealth of resources, from alarm registration to Crime Stoppers to our Neighbors app.
