SOUTH TALLAHASSEE, FL — The Leon County Sheriff’s Office is launching a new animated video series designed to help children learn how to stay safe in everyday situations.
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Leon County Sheriff’s Office launches animated video series to teach students everyday safety habits
The weekly video campaign, called the Safety Star Series, launched at Sabal Palm Elementary School. The series uses short animations to teach students how to handle real-world safety situations. Each episode offers practical tips and crime prevention habits in about 30 to 40 seconds.
“One of the things that we are engaged in is trying to make sure we reach the kids before they get into the criminal justice system, and we believe the best place to do that is in our schools,” Walt McNeil said.
School safety data highlights the challenges in Leon County. According to the Florida Department of Education’s School Environment Safety Incident Report for the 2024-2025 school year, the Leon County School District reported almost 2,000 incidents. More than half of those cases involved simple battery, and more than 400 involved fighting.
“We’re going to take this to every school in our district, particularly our middle schools, to try to send a message, one, that we care and we love them, and secondly, that we’re going to be there for them in all circumstances,” McNeil said.
Mi’Keir Ashe is a member of the Sabal Palm Elementary School safety patrol. Ashe takes pride in helping keep classmates safe and wants to set an example for others.
“It means everything to me I wanna keep everyone out there safe,” Ashe said.
“I just wanna look out for people and myself everyone out there deserves something better in life,” Ashe said.
Principal Latoyer Hankerson says programs like this help build trust and confidence in students.
“We promote safety all the time for our students. If you see something, say something, there’s zero bullying, so it’s something we promote all the time, so with this initiative it couldn’t come at a better time, and we’re always all in,” Hankerson said.
The Safety Star Series is available online, with new videos featuring different safety lessons expected each week.
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