School resource officers are now in place at all Sarasota County schools, including elementary schools.
The deputies will be in the parking lots as parents pick up and drop off their kids, and will stay in what the sheriff’s office calls “high visbility areas on campus” the rest of the day. In addition to the SRO’s, off-duty police will be on elementary school campuses.
For the remainder of this school year, the school district, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and individual city police departments will split the cost. Next year, the state will pick up most of the tab.