9 Investigates Orange County deputies babysitting children at taxpayers' expense

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — 9 Investigates discovered the Orange County Sheriff's Office rolled out the red carpet this summer for the Florida Sheriffs Association’s annual meeting, providing services that included child care for deputies’ children -- at taxpayers’ expense.

Channel 9 was there when the children spent the day at a local tourist attraction.

People in green shirts were seen watching children for hours as they rode go-karts and roller coasters.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jeff Williamson said the parents of the children who went on the outings were in town for the convention, and those wearing green shirts were Orange County deputies paid to watch the children for the day.

“The resources could be spent elsewhere,” said Manuel Rosario, an Orange County resident. “Whereas they could find babysitters or grandparents, relatives, the same way people do every day with children.”

Channel 9 obtained internal schedules from a deputy for that week, which indicate that deputies were assigned to watch the children of the sheriff and other law-enforcement personnel.

More than a dozen deputies were assigned to at least three events, something Williamson said is not unusual for gatherings such as the FSA meeting.

OCSO told Channel 9 the deputies were school-resource officers who signed up for shifts during the summer break, when school was out.

The Sheriff’s Office said school-resource officers typically earn about $40,000 annually. The pay wasn’t overtime but regular pay, Williamson said.

But the deputies were paid by OCSO, not the FSA, meaning that taxpayers footed the bill, which was thousands of dollars.

The Sheriff's Office is struggling with a deputy shortage, and the school-resource officers could have been out on patrol instead.

“I feel like hiring babysitters would have been more appropriate,” a resident said. “For deputies to be watching children, I just think they could be doing something else.”

Sheriff Jerry Demings was elected president of the FSA earlier this year, but OCSO said that wasn’t why the school-resource officers were assigned to babysit the children.

Cox Media Group