The Broward Sheriff’s Office will have access to live feeds from school security cameras, under an agreement approved Tuesday by the Broward County School Board.
The access will be restricted to certain emergency situations, such as when a threat is reported about the school, a 911 call is received from the school or nearby and when the school requests assistance. The Sheriff’s Office won’t be able to do general surveillance for non-law enforcement or emergency purposes, under the agreement.
General Counsel Barbara Myrick said such restrictions were needed to comply with federal student privacy laws.
The shared camera access was recommended by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Public Safety Commission, which has reviewed what went wrong during the Feb. 14 shooting that killed 17 people.
School resource officers have always been able to access security video, but this will allow it to be viewed remotely from a central dispatch center, Myrick said.
The agreement covers only schools that fall under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Office, although the district plans to start working on similar agreements with city police departments.
The agreement was signed by former Sheriff Scott Israel last week, a few days before Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him from office. Israel’s replacement, Sheriff Gregory Tony, has agreed to the contract, although he wants fewer restrictions on access, school district officials said at Tuesday’s meeting.
“Sheriff Tony and Superintendent [Robert] Runcie discussed the agreement yesterday, and both agreed it should move forward,” Sheriff’s spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright said. “Sheriff Tony will have some amendments.”
She didn’t say what those amendments would be and School Board members didn’t discuss specifics. But Runcie said they were minor changes that he didn’t see as deal breakers.
“I agree we should seriously consider those, but to establish relationships and capability, to provide access, we need to move forward, and we can always make changes,” Runcie said.
School Board member Lori Alhadeff said she felt the school district should delay approving the contract for two weeks so all the issues could be worked out and Tony could sign off on it. But board members are sensitive to criticiism that they’ve been moving too slowly on safety improvements
“We’re accused of not being urgent enough,” School Board member Laurie Rich Levinson said. “I can’t in good conscience delay this two more weeks.”
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