SANFORD, Fla. – Joel Greenberg, the Seminole County Tax Collector, swore in four deputy revenue officers, who will be armed to help better protect the tax collector offices.
"We do not want to be the first tax collector's office to have an incident," said Greenberg. "By taking these measures, we've put ourselves in a position where we are pretty safe."
Those officers have been trained in everything from customer service and handling tag and title transactions, to the ability to respond and handle irate customers as well as a coordinated robbery.
"Social media is able to publicize many incidents across the country at any moment," Greenberg added. "It's almost a daily thing where there's something involved in a shooting."
Christopher Anderson, who handles investigations at the tax collector's office, firmly believes it will save taxpayers money rather than hiring private security.
"We have the benefit of doing it with less, but getting more and using the potential of our employees with other aspects other than just security," he explained.
"They'll be cross-trained. They can act as a customer service representative as needed but also have the capability beyond that with the security features they've been trained for."
This is the first time a tax collector's office in Florida has armed some of its employees, but Greenberg said other offices have already reached out about pursuing the idea.