EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey Introduces New Tactical Preparedness Uniforms for School Resource Deputies

SHERIFF IVEY: Sun Tzu says in the Art of War that 'every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought!

WATCH: Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey introduces new tactical preparedness uniforms for Brevard School Resource Deputies. The new uniform features 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 campuses with a rifle.

WATCH: Brevard School Resource Deputies will transition to a new style of uniform and level of preparedness that goes even further to help keep our children safe. The new uniform features 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 campuses with a rifle.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – I’m excited to welcome our Brevard County students and teachers back to school for the 2022/2023 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.

As you talk to your children 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 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 is ever fought!” What Sun Tzu means is that to win every battle, you must outsmart, out strategize, out train, and out-prepare 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 on to 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, especially someone thinking about harming our children or 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.

The new uniform features 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 campuses with a rifle.

In previous years if we had an active shooter on one of our campuses with a rifle, our School Resource Deputy 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 the 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 onto one of our campuses and trying to harm our children.

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 was 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 before the battle can be fought.

I could not 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.

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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