LCSO continues school safety training following Georgia mass shooting

Reporter: Annalise Iraola Writer: Elyssa Morataya
Published: Updated:

In a worst-case scenario, a 14-year-old school shooter in Georgia killed four people and injured nine others.

Here In Lee County, law enforcement and school resource officers are always training for situations just like this.

“We train seven times the mandated amount by Florida State statute. In our schools, how you train is how you perform. We are looking for anything and everything,” said Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno.

LCSO’s School Threat Enforcement Team (STET) monitors students who have made threats to stop emergencies before they happen.

Two safety measures that helped in the Georgia school shooting are already in place in Lee County.

“In Georgia they just introduced this at the start of school last week in the county where they’re at. This is our third year with a system called Centegix, which is a badge that every employee in the school district of Lee County has,” said Rob Spicker, the school district’s spokesperson.

It allows them to set off a school emergency or a shutdown and actually call 911 to start an immediate response to the school for a lockdown.

In addition to that, many Lee schools have Opengate metal detectors as an added safety measure.

Law enforcement school resource officers in Lee County also play a big role.

“Selecting an SRO is something that we take very seriously. You need to be able to pick a personality that is able to be gregarious, tactically sound. They have to be able to prioritize very quickly,” said Sgt. Joe Zalenski with the Cape Coral Police Department.

“A school resource officer is that warrior. He’s the one that you see in that tactical vest. When you pull up, it almost looks militant. But you know what? I want it to be that way,” said Marceno.

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