Cops Prepare For Student Day At Florida State Fair

TAMPA, FL - Student Day at the Florida State Fair is Friday, Feb. 9 and local law enforcement officers say they are ready. On Fair Day, 200 off-duty deputies, augmented by members of the Tampa Police Department's School Resource Section, Hillsborough County School Security, and community action teams, will be at the Fair to ensure safety, authorities said.

Due to the enhanced security measures implemented in 2017, the Florida State Fair had a 40 percent overall reduction in trespass warnings and disruptive behavior, authorties said.

Deputies listed these rules for the 2018 Student Day: Any Hillsborough County student will be allowed into the fair with their free ticket before 6 p.m. on Feb. 9. All students will be required to show their student ID in order to gain admittance. If the student does not have an ID, School Security will have their computers at the gates and will be able to confirm the student's identity.

After 6 p.m., all students under the age of 18 must have a parent or person over 21 years of age with them to be allowed "free" admittance. One adult can bring in up to four students and be admitted for free. Any student under the age of 18 that arrives at the fair after 6 p.m. without an adult, will not be allowed into the fair for free. However, they can pay for an admission, and they will be allowed in, even if they are not accompanied by an adult.

A juvenile waiting area will be set up and maintained outside each gate, by fair personnel only, to assist all juveniles who are denied entrance to the fair for anything other than violations of law. Those juveniles will be free to leave or make any necessary phone calls for rides home, if they choose. There will be a supervised waiting area for students under the age of 18 that have been trespassed from the fair, at the Orient Road entrance. All reasonable measures will be made to contact the juvenile's parent/guardian bylaw enforcement personnel from the Sheriff's Office and School Security.

In the event a parent, guardian, or responsible adult cannot be contacted, or they refuse to take custody of the juvenile upon completion of the trespass process, the juvenile will be asked if he/she would like to stay in the Supervised Waiting Area until they can be picked up. However, if the juvenile refuses to stay in the Supervised Waiting Area, and is not being charged with a criminal act, the Sheriff's Office does not have the legal authority to detain the juvenile. They will be allowed to leave the property if they are capable of making that decision. If the Sheriff's Office or School Security believes the juvenile is not capable of making that decision, the deputy will maintain custody of the juvenile and hold them in protective custody until the juvenile can be released to a parent, guardian, or responsible adult.

Juveniles who are held in protective custody, whose parent, guardian or responsible adult cannot be contacted, will be held as a dependent child. Hillsborough Sheriff's personnel shall coordinate transportation of the juvenile to the Hillsborough County Division of Children's Services, 3191 Clay Magnum Lane, Tampa. Any juvenile placed under arrest for a criminal violation will be either be released to parent, guardian or responsible adult or will be transported to the Juvenile Assessment Center depending on the nature of charges.

Security Measures for State Fair include: Sky Watch Tower with 360 degree camera coverage and Internet capability which allows for viewing in the Command Center. The sheriff's office will have access to the Fair Authority's 450 closed circuit surveillance cameras. Twelve 4-foot platforms, painted bright blue and numbered, have been placed at key locations to provide better visibility for deputies on the Midway. This also serves as a reference point for patrons' location should they become lost.

The sheriff's mounted patrol units will be working the parking lots. The sheriff's bicycle patrol also will be working parking lots.

Image via Hillsborough Sheriff