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Leon County Sheriff's Office Educates Teens With New "Reality Check" Program

Leon County Sheriff's Office
Credit Leon County Sheriff's Office

The new “Reality Check” program from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office is giving teens a firsthand look at the criminal justice process

The “Reality Check” program is a new effort from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to help youth facing trouble change course. Public Information Officer, Dave Teems, says the program focuses, not scare tactics.

“I don’t think that reaches very well in a lot of cases. Our job is to educate these kids. Show them what happens if they continue down the path they’re currently on, show them what happens when they make better decisions. We put them through scenarios to where they can see from the law enforcement officer’s perspective what happens when we do traffic stops, when we go to domestic violence situations. We even put them through a shoot or no shoot scenario.”

Teems says the Sheriff’s Office values positive interactions with the public. He says people typically only interact with sheriff’s officers when a negative situation like an arrest is taking place.

Copyright 2018 WFSU

Noah Hertz is an award-winning reporter focusing on St. Johns County. Noah got his start reporting in Tallahassee and in Wakulla County, covering local government and community issues. He went on to work for three years as a general assignment reporter and editor for The West Volusia Beacon in his Central Florida hometown of DeLand, where he helped the Beacon take home awards from the Florida Press Association.