Fla. Officers Pulled Off Streets for Training

OAK HILL, Fla. --

The Oak Hill Police Department had to pull officers off the streets and close its doors, because they weren't properly trained, WFTV was told Wednesday. The Volusia County Sheriff's Office will help patrol Oak Hill until the police officers are ready.

Five Oak Hill police officers normally patrol a 10.5 square-mile area in south Volusia County, but that had to be stopped after Police Chief Diane Young realized her officers hadn’t received proper certification on the use of their guns.

"It's one of those things that Diane didn’t know when she took office and it came back to haunt her," Oak Hill City Commissioner Lynn Hyatt said.

Chief Young quickly notified the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and they agreed to take over patrols and retrain Oak Hill's police officers.

"We have a mutual aid agreement and the sheriff agreed to come down and provide services for our city," Chief Young said.

For more than 24 hours, the Oak Hill officers were parked at the department instead of patrolling the streets. WFTV spoke with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and they said they were aware of the problem, but were not launching an investigation.

The police department's officers received their training Wednesday morning under instruction at the Volusia County Sheriff's Office and Chief Young reassured the public that they were never in danger.

Chief Young was the first officer to get back on patrol Wednesday afternoon, but the rest had to wait for paperwork from the state.

Officials in Oak Hill called it a minor glitch.

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