Oak Hill Police Officers Back On Patrol

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL, FOX 35) -  

The tiny police force of Oak Hill was back on duty Wednesday afternoon. The small Volusia County city had to pull all four officers off the streets because of a mix up concerning firearms training.

Chief of Police Diane Young was reviewing paperwork Tuesday afternoon when she discovered one officer, who’s also a firearms instructor for the other officers, had his own certification inactive.

“I thought I need to call FDLE and get it straightened out right away,” she said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement requires that all officers get recertified with a firearm every two years.

Chief Young also called the Volusia County Sheriffs Office and they agreed to patrol the streets and respond to calls in the city until the problem was taken care of.

The sheriff’s office also provided a certified instructor who certified all the Oak Hill officers early Wednesday.

“I found a problem,” the chief said. “Fixed it, and now were getting back to work.”

One Oak Hill resident and city council member said she was never concerned the city would go unprotected.

“It was an ‘oops’.” said Linda Wyatt. “It’s one of those things Chief Young didn’t know about when she took the office and it came back to haunt her.”

The Volusia County State Attorneys office says the problems with the certifications could have made it more difficult to prosecute suspects. But they checked their records and found no criminal cases that will be impacted.