Cops in Miramar Beach? WCSO operations & DUI discussion

[emeraldcoastdav]

Ku squeeked by k state at k state in ot.

With numbers like I sited I am also anxious to see new stats.
With numbers like I sited, we are sure lopsided as is.
I want change or explanation from my Comissioner.
I want my road paved.

 

[emeraldcoastdav]

I did email Mrs. Jones and ask her to offer comment on the numbers shown above.

 

[emeraldcoastdav]

I ask Sheriff Adkinson to comment as well.

 

[Douglas the Intrepid]

if you read from the beginning you will se my issue is abundance of cops at off season.

Really? Here is all I have gleaned from your posts.

1. Driving while intoxicated is fine as long as you don't get caught.

2. Having all of the police here locally means its very difficult to not get caught.

3. Lets find some way to lower our local police presence in the off season to make it easier for locals and hospitality workers not to get caught.


:roll:

 

[emeraldcoastdav]

Sheriff Adkinson responded very quickly, and thank you for that.

Thank you for your inquiry. There were numerous themes in the threads you asked me to review. I will try and give you a brief response to the most pertinent.

In regard to DUI arrest I offer no apologies. We are equal opportunity in the application of the law. I do not allow deputies the discretion to give a ride home to someone that they have probable cause to believe are impaired. I will discipline any deputy found to engage in this practice. Please note one of the posters advocating this practice. He/she admits being given a ride home and also having a DUI. There are worse things than being arrested for DUI, telling someone their loved one will not be coming home is one of them.

Concerning staffing, we adjust staffing to accommodate for calls for service. An example of this that we add the school resource officers to the south end during the summers an holidays. We also reassign other admin personnel to assist during peak periods. We are currently using a limited computer system that has not fully captured all calls for service. Having said that we know that we answered over 100,000 calls for service last year. We hope to have a more accurate compilation next. Our average daily population during peak season is roughly 120,000. This is a guestimate as I have seen ranges from 180,000 to 80,000. We provide municipal services for two cities in the county. Additionally we administer services for south walton like it is a medium sized municipality.

The use of the helicopter is governed by it's availability. The helicopter is paid for and the cost incurred is for fuel and maintenance. Two deputy sheriff's are pilots in addition to their regularly scheduled duties. The helicopter becomes a waste of money when it is not used. I must admit I am surprised that someone would question it's use in attempting to apprehend fleeing felons. The two apprehended in reference to the car burglaries are a good use of resources. We believe that they are responsible for several break in's in the area. Anytime someone is fleeing from apprehension, we become concerned that their attempt to flee or our attempt to catch them does not endanger the public. Had one of the burglars entered someone's home while fleeing we would have been negligent in not using all assets trying to capture them. It really is a catch 22, but the simple truth is we have K9's and a helicopter available whether we use them or not. We elect to use them to catch felons.

I hope I provided some insight for you. If you have more specific questions just send them back and I will try and answer them. You may paste and/or forward this email as you deem appropriate. Please excuse any typos as I am in sling recovering from shoulder surgery this week.

Roughly around 65,000 as an average winter population. When comparing counties you have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples so to speak. Gadsden and Hendry county are hardly comparable for a number of reasons. First one would have to assume that they are receiving appropriate funding. I have spent quite a bit of time in Gadsden. Secondly the amount of calls for service is a large factor. Additionally Walton county is one of the largest land mass counties in the state with over 1000 square miles. There are also police departments in Quincy,Havana, Gretna, Sneads and Midway.

Many of the functions of the sheriff's office are not in necessarily directly. In public view. For instance there are 10 school resource deputies and 9 bailiffs. While all are sworn deputies their use is largely dictated by there assignment. This a product of the sheriff's office function as both court security and civil enforcement. Additionally we have 2 deputies who serve civil process and two who serve warrants full time (app 7000 un-served). We have several other areas like the above listed. From roughly April thru Sept we begin to split time or reassign as staffing allows. As I have said before SRO's , Civil process, warrants, traffic, and other functions are diverted to patrol as needed as that function is our priority.

There are 2085 man hours in a work year. We cover 365 days plus must maintain coverage for both training, illness, vacation and vacancies. It roughly takes 6 positions to fill every slot on every squad, to fully staff patrol 24 hours a day , 7 days a week. Patrol is currently staffed with 81 positions from the Captain down. Supplementary units such as Beach, Traffic and SRO are diverted t assist as described above and below. For instance crime prevention services and extradition gets scheduled around calls for service. I will say that while there is room for improvement I am very confident that we are very professionally represented when compared to other counties. A large reason for this is training. The state mandates certain levels of training not all counties are fully meeting those requirements. We are.


You have. Essentially as asked for a manpower or resource justification. These things do not normally lend themselves to complete answers off of the top of my head. One was completed by Cody and associates a few years ago that outlines what I am saying. I would suggest that you stop by the south annex and ask we can prepare something more for you as needed or simply stop in and ask a few questions. It is your tax dollars and you have the right to be fully informed. Hopefully this will answer some of your questions.

Mike Adkinson
Sheriff

 

[emeraldcoastdav]

I will say one thing, it seams we have elected the right man to be sheriff! Thank you again for your speedy response and detail Sheriff Adkinson!

 

[SurferGirl]

As an aside to the DUI discussion going on here, which IMO there are a couple of serious hypocrits posting, my vehicle and my boyfriends were both broken into on Wednesday night. A high-powered rifle, iPod and a few small other things were stolen so it is just fine with me if they catch these thugs. People who are complaining about them putting out the helicopters and K-9 need to realize this... would you rather let these idiots get away with stealing hard-working good people's possessions or would you rather the cops just be cruising around and do nothing about it. Who is to say that these thugs will stop at breaking into cars? Somehow I don't think you'd like it very much if they invaded your home and harmed you or a loved one. Now, they are on the street with my boyfriend's rifle.... still don't think they should be trying their best to catch these thugs?

 

[Yellow Hammer]

I see both sides of the drinking and driving thing argument, and by no means am I drunk driving advocate, that is an easy side of the argument to get on from first glance, but lets look further into it. If I have 4 beers in one hour time I should not drive for at least 2 hours according to the state law, but I can assure you that if that were the circumstance I can drive better than any of the couple of hundred 70 year old plus drivers that are cruising the roads of 30A, or the 16 year old hyper-texter in daddy's beamer....but lets say I have a tail light out on my vehicle, get pulled over, and answer the question honestly "have you been drinking"...I get field tested and I would fail at least one of theses tests due to having 4 orthopedic procedures on my knee....then I get to blow or refuse, I blow and risk it and hit a .08....bam DUI or hit .06 and get "officers discretion DUI", or refuse and go straight to jail....then the fun starts.....5000 for attorney about 1500 for court costs and fines 1 year no license, potentially lose my job, etc......Just today I was traveling down 30A, and an elderly gentlemen was driving 25 and stopping 25 and stopping 25 and stopping.....he was doing nothing illegal and if he was pulled over he would be put back on the road after running his license.....I think the DUI laws are extreme, particularly in this state, they should not be used as a source of revenue, which in Walton County I believe it is.

 

[Just Curious]

I see both sides of the drinking and driving thing argument, and by no means am I drunk driving advocate, that is an easy side of the argument to get on from first glance, but lets look further into it. If I have 4 beers in one hour time I should not drive for at least 2 hours according to the state law, but I can assure you that if that were the circumstance I can drive better than any of the couple of hundred 70 year old plus drivers that are cruising the roads of 30A, or the 16 year old hyper-texter in daddy's beamer....but lets say I have a tail light out on my vehicle, get pulled over, and answer the question honestly "have you been drinking"...I get field tested and I would fail at least one of theses tests due to having 4 orthopedic procedures on my knee....then I get to blow or refuse, I blow and risk it and hit a .08....bam DUI or hit .06 and get "officers discretion DUI", or refuse and go straight to jail....then the fun starts.....5000 for attorney about 1500 for court costs and fines 1 year no license, potentially lose my job, etc......Just today I was traveling down 30A, and an elderly gentlemen was driving 25 and stopping 25 and stopping 25 and stopping.....he was doing nothing illegal and if he was pulled over he would be put back on the road after running his license.....I think the DUI laws are extreme, particularly in this state, they should not be used as a source of revenue, which in Walton County I believe it is.

And think...all that could be avoided if you had just called a taxi. It's really a brilliant concept.


I don't really care if you, or Dave, or anybody else think that driving under the influence is ok. It is against the law. If you don't like the law work on changing it; don't break it. You put everyone on the road at risk because you are too irresponsible and selfish to call a taxi or get a friend. You would be surprised at how many people have been affected by a DUI. Is it really worth it? I had a loved one killed last year from someone driving under the influence. Believe me it is not worth it. Get somebody to drive you home.

 

[scooterbug44]

Let's be honest - people who have a BA of .06 or .08 are not the majority of "drunk drivers" on 30-A. It's much worse than that and they do it frequently.