LITHIA, Fla. (WFLA) — Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister wants parents to know he and his deputies have your children’s safety on the top of their minds.
“We are ready and we are prepared,” Chronister said.
Hillsborough County School resource deputies are continuing their intense training on how to deal with active shooters.
“We want our teachers to focus on teaching, not the tactics,” he said.
The training puts the resource deputies into realistic situations and teaches them to go directly after a threat.
“This very rigorous training they’ve attended is solely focused on one thing: if there, God forbid, is an active shooter situation at one of our schools, stop and neutralize that threat and be prepared to do it,” Chronister explained.
This four-day, scenario-based training teaches deputies how to efficiently clear a room, effectively communicate using their radios, limit casualties, and ultimately, neutralize an active threat.
Chronister said it ensures children in Hillsborough County are safe this upcoming school year.
“I hate that they have to do it, but the sad reality is that I would rather be prepared than be unprepared and have a loss of life because they weren’t prepared,” he explained. “Whatever is necessary to keep our children safe, we’re gonna do it.”