JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It's been one month since Gov. Rick Scott announced he was moving National Guard recruitment officers out of the neighborhood recruitment centers because of safety concerns, but Monday those officers returned to those storefront locations with new safety measures in place.
There's a total of seven recruitment centers in the State of Florida with two located in Jacksonville.
The decision to better secure these offices came after the shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee, that left four Marines dead.
For the safety of guard members little information about the security they have in place have been given, but they said there are plenty of new things going on to make the officers working in those locations feel safe.
"The recruiting storefront locations are a way we get out into the community. They are very important to our recruiting efforts. We get quite a few people that go through those facilities and we get a certain number of recruits from those facilities," Caitlin Brown, public affairs officer with the Florida National Guard, said.
Last month, doors to those neighborhood recruitment centers were locked and guard members inside were moved to local armories, a mover Rick Scott made in response to the shooting in Tennessee. Brown said the officers' safety was Governors Scott's main priority.
"We cannot ask our members to do a job in an environment where they're not safe. Making these locations safe for our recruiters, both army and air, was critical so that they can continue to do their job and get us the best and brightest young people in the country that want to join our ranks and serve among us," Brown (pictured left) said.
A couple of the things they've done at all seven recruitment centers is adding bullet-proof glass and extra security guards.
Many of the full-time employees will now be armed and Brown said the recruitment officers are happy to be back.
"The Florida National Guard has some of the best recruiters in the nation and they're very excited to get back into the store front locations so they can continue recruiting the next generation of Florida's heroes," Brown said.
Florida was one of the first states in the nation to make this move with six other states following suit including Indiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas and Wisconsin.
Last month, state officials said active and retired service members would now get top priority when applying for concealed weapons permits, another decision made as part of the response to the Chattanooga shootings.