Why school districts say data on weapons incidents not accurate

The most recent statewide reports on weapons in Florida schools might not be accurate.

Florida schools are required to report safety incidents to the state’s Department of Education.

The most recent report, with data from the 2022-2023 school year, states there were 2,063 “weapons possession” incidents in Florida schools, which includes firearms and other weapons.

Of that, the report says 1,317 were reported to law enforcement.

That’s more than a third of those incidents, unreported.

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Those gaps appear locally as well: Of the 206 weapons incidents in Palm Beach County Schools that school year, the state’s data shows 138 were reported to law enforcement.

And only 24 out of 43 incidents were listed as reported to law enforcement in St. Lucie County.

WPTV contacted both districts to find out why so many incidents were not brought to law enforcement. Both said the same thing: that they did report all weapons possession incidents to law enforcement.

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Both districts said the state changed the coding in its incident reporting system during the 2022 school year, following changes recommended by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission.

A St. Lucie County Schools spokeswoman said that led to an error on the district’s end, accounting for six of the 19 incidents showing up as unreported to law enforcement. She said the district is asking the state about the rest of the incidents showing up as unreported.

A spokeswoman for Palm Beach County Schools said the “reported to law enforcement” category in the state’s database should be labeled “law enforcement action taken.”

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Gene Petrino, a retired Plantation police officer who now works as a safety consultant, said school safety is a complex problem that requires accurate information in order to work toward a solution.

“You need to find out where the problems are at and then focus your resources on addressing those specific areas,” Petrino said. "One school might not have a lot of issues, and should not have the same amount of resources that other schools that really require it.”

The Florida Department of Education did not immediately respond to our request for comment. This story will be updated with any response from them.