The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office had a strong presence at the Florida State Fair as a direct response to hundreds of teens 'wilding' last Friday, according to Col. Jim Previtera.
"The fair hired more off duty deputies," Previtera said. "We have brought in several of our street crime units."
The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office also brought in three lifts so deputies can watch the crowd from the air and a bank of surveillance cameras on loan from a local company.
"It's given us an ability to see a lot more of the midway and to zoom into the trouble areas and get a lot better high definition resolution right away so that we can move our people around, said Previtera. "We also have the ability with this system to overlay our security map onto the cameras."
The extra equipment and manpower are in place to prevent another 'wilding' incident. That's when hundreds of teens run out of control through the fair starting fights and stealing food. It happened last Friday, nearly 100 teens were ejected. Previtera said any teens thinking about doing that again will receive harsher treatment.
"Last week, disorderly conduct or things that got you ejected," he said. "If they rise to the level of criminal behavior this week, our intention is to arrest you."
Fair vendors and patrons said they've noticed the increased law enforcement presence.
"There's definitely more sheriffs," said game operator Brandon Carnes.
"I'm here with my wife and two kids and yeah, we feel pretty safe," said Tim Epping. "I mean we've seen a lot of deputies around here. It's been pretty quiet."
Previtera said that's the message he hopes the public gets about attending the fair.
"We've had no arrests and no ejections since last Friday night," he said. "The Florida State Fair is a safe place to go."