The Seminole County Sheriff's Office wants up to $1 million in federal money for a training system that would let school safety staff rehearse inside digital versions of actual county schools, and county commissioners are set to sign off on the application Tuesday.
The request sits on the County Manager's consent agenda for the Board of County Commissioners meeting at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the BCC Chambers, alongside a phone-service agreement and a software budget transfer.
School safety training
The application is for the Justice Department's fiscal 2026 STOP School Violence Program, short for Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing. According to the agenda memo, the Sheriff's Office would use the money for "The Matrix," which the memo describes as an immersive, adaptive, AI-enabled platform where campus safety staff could practice in an interactive setting based on real school buildings.
The application is for $1,000,000, and the program does not require the county to put up matching money. Commissioners are asked to approve the application and to let Sheriff Dennis Lemma sign future paperwork tied to the grant. Approval of the application does not mean the money is awarded; the Justice Department makes that decision.
Dialing 311
A second item would let people with Verizon phones reach county government by dialing 311.
The Federal Communications Commission set aside 311 for nonemergency police calls and other government services, the county's Emergency Management staff wrote, giving people an alternative to 911 when a situation does not need an immediate emergency response. Under the proposed agreement with Verizon Wireless, 311 calls placed from Verizon cell phones inside Seminole County would be routed to the county switchboard at 407-665-0000.
