- Hello, everyone.
I'm Sheriff Wayne Ivey,
of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office,
and I'm excited to welcome our Brevard County
students and teachers back to school
for the 2022 and '23 school year.
Over the course of the past several months,
parents, teachers, students,
and communities across our country
have all grown deeply concerned over school shootings
like the one in Uvalde, Texas,
where 19 children and two teachers
were killed by an active shooter.
Tonight, as you talk to your child
about heading back to school,
I want to reassure our parents, our teachers,
and our students
that our schools are among the safest in the country
and are protected by who I believe
are the most courageous deputies and officers in America.
I know firsthand, from talking with our community,
that there are many concerns
about what measures we have taken to protect our schools,
and I want you to know that our agency
and our partner agencies
from the various police departments
have worked closely together
to develop and implement
specific security plans and strategies
that ensure the safety of those on our campuses.
Sun Tzu says in The Art of War
that every battle is won or lost before it's ever fought.
What Sun Tzu means is that to win every battle,
you must outsmart, outstrategize, outtrain,
and outprepare your opponent
long before the battle is ever fought.
With that concept in mind,
my first goal to win the battle
is by making sure our schools are hard targets,
so that anyone with evil in their heart
will think twice about coming onto one of our campuses
and trying to harm a child or one of our teachers.
Folks, let me be very clear.
You are not coming into my schools and killing our children.
I firmly believe that
if you do not meet violence with violence,
you will be violently killed.
My goal is to avoid ever having to face a threat
on one of our campuses,
by being better prepared, better armed,
and better trained than anyone else,
and especially someone thinking about harming our children
or our teachers.
As such, in the coming weeks,
the school resource deputies
for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office
will transition to a new style of uniform
and level of preparedness
that goes even further to help keep our children safe,
a tactical appearance that clearly signifies
we mean business when it comes to protecting our children,
and a tactical advantage that gives our team
the ability to instantly address an active shooter
who might be on our campus with a rifle.
In previous years,
if we had an active shooter on one of our campuses
with a rifle,
our school resource deputies
would have to go to their vehicle,
parked outside in the parking lot,
retrieve their long gun from the gun safe in their vehicle,
and then return to the school
to try and address that threat.
This new style of uniform and tactical preparedness
gives our team members the advantage and ability
to instantly address the threat
with the level of force necessary to eliminate the shooter
and save the lives of innocent children and teachers.
While there will be those that perhaps
don't understand this new tactical approach
to keeping our kids safe,
it is my prayer that this new level of preparedness
and immediate ability to address the threat
will prevent an active shooter
from ever walking on one of our campuses
and trying to harm a child.
- A few days ago, I had someone tell me
that they didn't like this new tactical look
and level of preparedness for our school resource deputies,
as it reminded them of walking through the Israeli airport.
My response to them was simple.
When's the last time you read
about someone shooting up an Israeli airport?
You haven't.
And the reason for that is because they are better prepared,
better armed, and better trained than anyone else,
and they have won the war
long before the battle was ever fought.
In closing, I cannot be more proud
of our school resource deputies,
as they are truly one of the most impacting
and important roles we have in our profession.
While keeping our kids safe from an active shooter
is vital to our children's safety,
it is only a very small part of what these men and women do
on our campuses.
What they do in their duties as school resource deputies
is build relationships and friendships with our students
and partnerships with our teachers and parents
that will forever change lives.
Our school resource deputies get to these kids
before they get to us,
and they will forever be a part of these kids' lives
as they help mentor, guide, and protect them
each and every day.
I hope everyone has a great school year,
and trust me when I tell you that our team
is standing guard at the door to keep evil away.
God bless.