Sheriff: Focus on prevention keeps student day at the fair safe
TAMPA, Fla. - Massive crowds of families and teenagers packed the Florida State Fair Friday for student day, so law enforcement officers increased their presence to keep visitors safe.
“Our community action team is made up of our school resource deputies, along with volunteers that are here tonight faith-based leaders, community leaders that are here,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister.
The sheriff said they ramp up security measures on student day because it’s one of the busiest nights of the fair, with free admission for Hillsborough County students. Last year, a record 66,000 people came.
“We had very few ejections, 38 ejections. Only one arrest and it wasn’t even behavior-related,” he said.
Last year, the county added observation towers to help.
“A lot of times if we saw something start to develop that was problematic, we could immediately deploy deputies to that situation and almost divert something for occurring,” said Chronister.
This year, they tacked on more cameras.
The increased presence began after 14-year-old Andrew Joseph was hit and killed on I-4 after he was detained and kicked out of the fair in 2014. Now, students are required to be with an adult after 6 p.m. and deputies keep a close eye from above.
Including community members in the process is important for some volunteers who participate in the teams that walk around the fair.
“They know that they’re safe and they’re protected, and they can walk the street without anybody harassing them,” said Cris Riviere, a volunteer who serves on the Hillsborough County Black Advisory Council.
Deputies said the focus on prevention is paying off.
“The culture’s changed here at the fair. Children know what they can and cannot get away with,” Chronister said.
The sheriff said the number of people kicked out of the fair has gone down year after year, and they review what to change for their security plan every time to see what needs to change.