BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — School resource officers in unincorporated Brevard County will now carry long guns at all schools as a way to make it "harder" for schools to become targets of violent incidents, according to Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. 

He says the new initiative gives SROs a tactical advantage, with the ability to address an active shooter who might be on a campus with a rifle.

“The sheriff and the school resource officers wanted to come up with a way to up the ante a little — get a little more deterrence. We were able to work with Kel Tec who is a local dealer, and come up with a collapsible version of a rifle that could easily be carried comfortably on a vest,” Tod Goodyear of the Brevard Sheriff’s Office said. 

Deputies will be trained to use the collapsible long gun. 

“Become proficient with it. Hopefully, we never have to use it, but in the event we did, we have another tool we can end an incident quickly, and with the least amount of damage to anyone,” Goodyear said.

It’s a nervous but exciting time for Jen Barclay. Her 14-year-old daughter Brooke is a new freshman at Viera High School. It’s a big change from her old school.

“She went to a small school,” Barclay said. “There were only 40 to 50 graduating eighth graders, so now she’s like one of five hundred.”

For this mom, security is at the top of the list, considering the tragic events happening in schools nationwide. She says they just moved here from California where school resource officers were being taken out of schools.

“I’m a proponent of the SRO program and what they are trying to achieve,” she said. 

She believes the new initiative will deter someone from trying to commit crimes at a school.

“I'm definitely for them being prepared to do what it takes to take care of the school campus,” Barclay said.

​Overall, the new initiative is being well received, although some have expressed concerns to the sheriff of the tactical type look deputies will be wearing.