Walton County Air Force

[Furthur]

The Herald reported this week that the Walton County Sheriff's Office Aviation Unit found 1500 pot plants worth 3 million dollars.
I don't know what is more astounding. That pot plants are worth $2000 or that our Sheriff has his own air force.
What the heck is an aviation unit and how much is that costing us?
There is a budget item I would like to know much more about.

 

[Andy A]

Furthur, are you mad that they found your pot supply or just figure their time is wasted, patrolling the beach, responding to emergencies, assisting in rescue operations, looking for possible drowning victims...I think by now you get the idea. A helicopter at the Sheriff's department is an asset not a liability. But then, you have to be bright enough to know some of a helicopter's capabilities.

 

[Leader of the Banned]

If they would just sell the pot plants to people in Colorado and Washington state, they'd have enough money for a bigger airforce and could find even more pot plants and buy even more planes. The sky (and ithe ground in this case) is the limit.

 

[Furthur]

Ha ! Andy I bet the tab for the liability insurance on these assets would nock your socks off.
My question remains. What are these assets and how much do they cost? Simple questions that need to be answered before we can tell if this unit is cost effective.

 

[Lake View Too]

Cost effective?? Who knows ( I mean, really, who knows). But I bet it sure is fun!!!

 

[Will B]

They've had helicopters longer than I can remember. The hangar is right on 331 across from the South Walton annex. Been there for years.

 

[Matt J]

Ha ! Andy I bet the tab for the liability insurance on these assets would nock your socks off.
My question remains. What are these assets and how much do they cost? Simple questions that need to be answered before we can tell if this unit is cost effective.

I bet you'd be shocked to find that the Sheriff's office has a big fat donut (0) on the liability line item. Like most Sheriff's in Florida they don't carry insurance and are self insured.

 

[Matt J]

They've had helicopters longer than I can remember. The hangar is right on 331 across from the South Walton annex. Been there for years.

I believe there's another one at the Defuniak airport. That's just for the south end.

 

[Furthur]

I've heard that they have fixed wing units too. Seems wastefully extravagant for a poor county of only 75,000 people. Lots of bigger police departments don't fly at all.
Fun might just be the operative word here. Let's cut funding for meals on wheels again and go flying.
Does anybody have any guesstimate as to how much this is costing? And how many more ground units we could have instead?

 

[Matt J]

In Florida rural counties often have air units for search and rescue and drug eradication.