SANFORD, Fla. – They’re a father-daughter duo largely responsible for protecting students at Sanford Middle School over the past several decades.
Former Sanford Police Lt. Mike Taylor was only the second school resource officer from the Sanford Police Department to serve at Sanford Middle.
He started protecting the school in 1989 while his daughter Tammy Townsend was a middle school student. Then, two decades later, she took over SRO duties at the school.
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News 6 invited the father-daughter duo back to Sanford Middle to reminisce.
“I remember when they built this,” Taylor said. “I miss the old building, it was something else.”
“I remember finishing 6th grade and that was the last year that they had the old building before they tore it down,” Townsend said. " It creaked a lot and it was scary for a sixth-grader!”
The now-retired lieutenant was born and raised in Sanford. He went to what was then Sanford Junior High School in the 1960s. His mother, now 93, graduated from what was then Sanford High School.
Taylor had no idea at the time the impact he was having on his students, in particular, his daughter - now the current Public Information Officer at the Sanford Police Department.
“Well, at the time I don’t think I was very fond of him being my SRO!” Townsend said.
But that changed after Townsend left middle school. She volunteered as a Police Explorer in High School because her father was an advisor in the Explorer program.
“I could see the relationship he did have with the kids here and they looked up to him,” Townsend said. “He definitely has a huge influence on me. He’s truly my hero. Truly.”
When the Sanford Police Department posted on Facebook about SRO Appreciation Day, someone commented: “I had the best SRO when I was in school, retired Michael Taylor, and he has such an impact on our lives.”
“It’s pretty neat,” Taylor said. “I mean some of them are like 49, 50 [years old], coming up and talking to me. Some that actually became police officers, 30 or more.”
Did they ever see it working out this way?
“I didn’t see it working out this way but I’m sure glad it did,” Townsend said. “Because there’s not a lot of people that can say this.”
Townsend had a special message for her father:
“I love you Daddy, thank you for everything that you’ve done.”
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