CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook is ready and willing to take over the School Resource Officer services next school year after the district voted to turn school security back to the sheriff’s office.
The Clay County School District decided on Nov. 2 to disband the district’s police department in a 4-to-1 vote to begin contract negotiations with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office. That decision came four years after the district decided to establish the school-based police force in 2019.
Cook said she could see the change coming.
“Last year when there was school board elections, there was a couple of candidate specific talking about reverting the school district police back to the sheriff’s office. So I knew at least it was on a couple of people’s minds,” she said.
Cook also received a phone call as a heads-up and immediately began preparing. She said there are several easy-to-see advantages for the schools by re-engaging the sheriff’s office.
“The pluses are we have depth of services. We have depth of capabilities. We have depth of personnel. We have our radio channels,” Cook said. “If there’s a crime, we have crime scene technicians. We have all of those capabilities in place.”
Duval County Public Schools have a police force but Cook said that’s comparing apples and oranges because Jacksonville is so much larger compared to Clay County, where there are only 43 schools.
“We’re in the business of law enforcement,” Cook said when asked how she felt about the change. “We’re in the business of policing. The school district is in the business of education. So for me, it makes sense that the board would choose to move the school policing responsibility back to the sheriff’s office.”
The school district police are under contract until June of next year. A board member said the change would not require any additional cost to taxpayers.