The day after a mass shooting claimed the lives of 19 elementary school students and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, Orange County police agencies were bumping up their presence around county schools in an effort to reassure children, parents and school staffers that their campuses were safe, authorities said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which contracts with all county cities and unincorporated communities south of Irvine, as well as Villa Park, Yorba Linda and Stanton, was increasing its presence at all schools within its jurisdiction on Wednesday, May 25, officials said.
The department’s response was in addition to school resource officers, who also respond to all campuses within the department’s jurisdiction, Sgt. Scott Steinle said.
The Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, which receives, analyses, gathers and shares threat-related information among law enforcement agencies, was also monitoring the situation.
“They’re looking over all social media and media channels to address any threat,” Steinle said. “Then they work with the (teams of specialized deputies), the school resource officers and deputies to mitigate those threats.”
So far, no police agency had reported any threat to Orange County campuses, officials said.
Other police agencies, including Anaheim, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Buena Park and Costa Mesa, were increasing patrols at all schools within their city limits, officials said.
Others, like Fullerton and Newport Beach, were increasing their presence around elementary schools.
“We’re just trying to maintain more of a presence around the elementary schools in particular just to reassure everybody that we’re here for them if needed,” Newport Beach Lt. Peter Carpentieri said.
Police departments in Huntington Beach and Fullerton employ full-time school resource officers who predominantly respond to middle school and high school campuses when needed, officials said.
Officers in Santa Ana and Anaheim were asked to provide a presence at campuses in between calls for service.
In Orange, an officer responded to every campus within the city limits when schools let out Tuesday afternoon, Sgt. Phil McMullin said.
Orange County police departments will have additional help from the Sheriff’s Department, which has specialized teams that respond to all cities within the county, not just those that contract with the department.
The departments did not share additional details about their deployment numbers.
“This coincides with the heightened patrol checks with houses of worship,” Steinle said, referencing a separate mass shooting at a Laguna Woods church on May 15.
“(Deputies) already did patrol checks of our schools,” the sergeant said. “We are aware of the situation and we want to make sure our schools and houses of worship are as safe as possible.”
Source: Orange County Register
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