Jason Delgado
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill Wednesday allowing online security officer training.
State law currently requires aspiring security officers — armed and unarmed — to undergo an in-person training course. The proposal (SB 1474), though, will allow unarmed training to transition online. Armed courses, meanwhile, may feature 21 hours at most of online instruction. The rest would remain in-person, particularly the firearm portion.
Republican Sen. Jennifer Bradley of Orange Park is the bill sponsor. The Senate passed the measure last month unanimously without debate and few questions.
Proponents note the bill would modernize the state’s certification process. California and Georgia are among several states that permit online training for unarmed security officers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Brevard County Republican Rep. Randy Fine is the companion bill sponsor (HB 1233). In a February committee, he noted Florida allowed a digital alternative amid the height of the pandemic.
“It worked quite well,” Fine told committee members. “This would simply allow us to continue with what we saw work during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) oversees state licensing and compliance standards. It offers more than 22 types of licenses including security permits, concealed weapons licenses and private investigator certifications.
Under the measure, FDACS must ensure security schools maintain a physical location and verify an applicant completed the state-mandated training. Security schools must also hold a minimum $1 million insurance policy.
“As of Dec. 31, 2021, the Division had issued a total of 169,758 private investigative, private security, and recovery services licenses and 2,459,530 concealed weapon permits, to qualified applicants,” a staff analysis noted.
More than 1.1 million private security guards are employed in the U.S., according to Department of Labor statistics. Comparatively, more than 660,000 police and Sheriff deputies work in the U.S.
The bill will take effect July 1. More information about security licensing is available online.
One comment
hENRY White
May 1, 2022 at 10:05 am
It;s past time for the citizens of this great country take back our country and disbann all of those in any Government that wants to work against us and they should be disbared immediately ,For they are talking money from other sources than their allowed pay.The Governor should not be allowed to control our lives and tell us what we can and can’t do.The people of Florida are waisting money on those on Death Roll and they should pay the price for the crimes that they have committed not us,It not right to put a person on Death row for killing another peron when that person should pay the price not the citizens of the state and them live off us for free some 20to 28 yrs before they pay for the crime.
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