Collier County Sheriff’s Office speaks on school safety in wake of threats

Reporter: Amy Galo Writer: Tim Belizaire
Published: Updated:

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has investigated over a hundred potential school threats in the last two weeks.

There have been 132 reports of school threats in just two weeks since the Georgia school shooting.

Kevin Rambosk is the Collier County Sheriff. He said there have been many reports but that some were redundant.

“Originally, about 310 were reported, but a lot of those were multiple reports of the same shared information,” said Rambosk.

And each one of those reported threats is taken seriously.

“Every time it’s reposted, we all have to engage to ensure that it is not credible,” said Rambosk.

Ultimately, for Collier County, it’s resulted in four arrests. Two were for weapons-related charges.

“That involved a set of brass knuckles and a knife,” said Rambosk.

Two of the reports were for posting school​ threats online.

Dr. Leslie C. Ricciardelli, the Superintendent of Collier County Public Schools, said she wants people to be responsible with their reports.

“We were all trained growing up that you don’t yell fire in a theater. We all know the ramifications,” said Ricciardelli. “Making a statement that there’s going to be a shooting tomorrow at school is the same consequence.”

Instead of reposting a threat on social media, authorities want reports sent to Fortify Florida.
Fortify Florida is an anonymous reporting system that goes straight to the Collier Sheriff’s Office.

“There may be many that are coming through Fortify Florida, but many of them are the same exact threat, so it’s much smarter to get it through one single portal rather than multiple,” said Ricciardelli.

The Sheriff’s office also discussed parents’ responsibilities, from locking up weapons to keeping a watchful eye on their students.

To download the Fortify Florida app on the Google Play Store or the App Store go to the Fortify Florida website.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.