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Polk County School's armed guards to be sworn in Monday

Posted at 4:48 PM, Jul 30, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-30 18:01:00-04

LAKELAND, Fla. — The first-ever class of school guardians will graduate Monday night.

Monday night the Polk County Sheriff's Office will swear in 90 armed guards, which will protect your children in schools across central Florida.

“We are not here to just sit down and watch cameras, we are actually there to patrol that school,” Justin Dunn said.

He is one of the 90 guardians to be sworn in Monday night at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland.

At 30 years old, Dunn is taking on one of our nation’s biggest challenges; keeping children safe in school. And he’s taking it seriously.

“I have been saying from the get-go we need to do something,” Dunn said.

Dunn has a military history and said that his duties took him to Afghanistan, doing almost the same type of job. 

Dunn admits they lost men, but never the people they were protecting.

Polk County Schools says there were about 600 applicants, but tonight just 90 will walk across the stage.

The guards underwent pistol training, accuracy testing and mental toughness according to Dunn.

“Right now my oldest one is in elementary school. She starts first grade this year so Sandy Hook sticks out the most to me,” Dunn said.

Dunn calls himself and the others, bullet blockers.

“They are going to step out to take out that person who is shooting at our students and our teachers,” Jacqueline Byrd, the Superintendent for Polk County Schools, said.

The schools say they will not be releasing the postings of the guardians, for their safety.

The guardians will be in plain uniform when school opens on August 13.

“I just want my kids to go home safe every day,” Dunn said.