This was part of the response FROM THE SHERIFF based on earlier comments on the thread. Emeraldcoastdav posted it in #85. Sounds like we are staffed just fine and personnel are shifted around based on varying demand:
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."
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."
