PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — Bay County Sheriff’s Office is hosting a Church Safety Conference this weekend.
“So we will teach the churches how to communicate with their the members of their churches on how to react in case there’s an active shooter or natural disaster or something, in case something bad happens in their churches,” Bay County Sheriff’s Office Captain Myron Guilford said.
The free one-day seminar will be held at the Gretchen Nelson Scott Fine Arts Center, and attended by more than 200 religious leaders from across the panhandle.
Guilford said it is important that all religious organizations have safety measures in place.
“The security team should have a safety plan in place,” Guilford said. “We should be able to do background checks on the people taking care of our kids and the nursery. Parents should be able to have to show I.D. to get their kids in and out of the nursery. They should know where the kids need to go in case something happens.”
In 2023, there have been more than 200 mass shootings in the United States.
“It’s so common now that we need to have things in place is not if this is going to happen, is what is going to happen and being prepared for something like that, if it does happen to us,” Guilford said.
There will also be several other informational seminars, including one by Florida District Attorney Larry Basford who will give a lecture on the new permitless carry law.
The seminar is only open to church leaders.
For information on how to sign up, visit the BCSO website.