Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 02-28-12 regular — reading text

is a professional and fully accredited law enforcement agency with a history of dedication and service to the citizens and visitors of Okaloosa County. The sheriff' s office responds to calls for service in a quick and effective manner. Every member strives to protect lives and property to the best of their abilities. We initiate and maintain effective crime prevention programs and community oriented policing programs. Our members develop relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. This provides opportunities to develop solutions to policing problems. The sheriff's office deploys patrol resources in a de- centralized, district design which promotes close working relationships in the community. District commanders and section supervisors are located in district offices and are accessible and responsive to the specific needs of the communities they serve. 121 Pa g The Okaloosa County Sheriff' s Office was recognized by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation in June 2010 as the first agency to become initially accredited using a totally electronic format standard. Since becoming accredited, the Sheriff' s Office has excelled in all facets of law enforcement operations and administration ensuring accountability and efficiency. The Training Section has awarded in excess of 25, 000 credit hours in training to over 300 sworn deputies. Averaging approximately 84 hours of training annually, each deputy is provided well in excess of the minimum mandatory required to maintain their law enforcement certification in accordance with the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. Improvements in policy distribution and education were also made by utilizing a web based program which monitors certifications of all employees and an authentication system which immediately flags potential problems. Initial savings in the number of man hours were revealed when some of the classroom instruction was moved to the web based program for training and testing on Use of Force, Blood Borne Pathogen, and other annual mandatory requirements. The Sheriff' s Office has also implemented a minimum fitness standard for sworn in 2012 which has improved the overall health of the agency and is expected to reduce health related costs for the future. The sheriff's office investigations division supports county wide law enforcement operations. In addition, there are general investigators assigned to specific districts that work closely with the patrol deputies. In 2011, the Criminal Investigations Section was assigned 1437 cases, a majority of these cases were forwarded from Field Services, other were referrals from the court system, other agencies, or were discovered as secondary crimes by the Investigators. Investigators closed 804 cases ( to include unfounded and exceptionally cleared cases) and put 204 individuals in jail by arrest. Of the cases assigned to this unit, investigators have been able to recover $ 811, 049. 50 in property belonging to victims. Additionally the unit was able to close one of the agency' s Cold Cases when John Richard McMaster Wade entered into a plea of guilty for the homicide of Ulai Sookruetai ( 1988). In several cases, evidence has been resubmitted 131Pa g for additional testing which were not available at the time of the homicides, and we are hopeful some of these will develop into positive leads. The Sheriff' s Special Investigations Section is a hybrid group of Sheriff' s Investigators that have received advanced training in narcotics, fugitive location and apprehension, sexual offender /predator /career offender tracking and monitoring, and gang investigations. The section is comprised of the Multi- Agency Drug Task Force, the Fugitive Warrant /Career Offender Unit and the Sexual Offender /Predator /Gang Unit with specialization in their particular disciplines. As one section, investigators from the various disciplines area ble to seamlessly blend into each unit increasing the level of personnel available to support their individual missions. This is accomplished without placing a burden on the uniformed patrol personnel that remain available to respond to citizen calls for service. Several investigators with the Special Investigations Section are dual certified as Federal Law Enforcement Task Force Officers. The Okaloosa County Sheriff' s Office participates in the Drug Enforcement Administration IDEA) Regional Task Force, the US Marshal' s Violent Fugitive Task Force, and the Department of Homeland Security /Immigration and Customs Enforcement ( ICE). By participating in the federal task forces, the Sheriff' s Office receives resources and funding for complex investigations that may not be available locally, but have an impact on our community, and the Panhandle area. This is accomplished at no additional cost to the taxpayer. The Drug Task Force is a multi- agency task force that is primarily used to identify, infiltrate, and arrest individuals or criminal organizations in the sale and distribution of illegal or controlled substances. The Drug Task Force is currently staffed with eleven investigators, one analyst and one technical surveillance specialist. The Drug Task Force is comprised of Okaloosa County Sheriff' s Investigators, an Agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and a detective from Niceville Police Department. The task force has special federal task force officers with the Drug Enforcement Administration IDEA) and the Department of Homeland Security ( ICE) and conducts joint 141 Page investigations with the Bureau of Tobacco and Firearms ( ATF). Information comes from Emerald Coast Crime Stoppers and other informants which allow the Drug Task Force to remove drugs from Oka loosa County. In 2011 the Drug Task Force was responsible for 108 narcotics arrests, and confiscated $ 554,772. 00 worth of illicit drugs and seized money, property and 15 firearms valued at over $130,240. 00 from local drug dealers. The Fugitive Warrants Unit is tasked with the locating and arresting violent felons or suspects of particular interest that are being sought by law enforcement both locally and by other jurisdictions. These investigators are also responsible for the monitoring and tracking of career criminals that have been released from corrections supervision into our communities. The Fugitive Warrants Unit is currently staffed by two full time investigators, which are also Special Deputy United States Marshals. As Special Deputy US Marshals, they participate in the regional arrests of fugitives in our area with other participating agencies. This unit is responsible for the arrest of homicide suspects, escaped prisoners and other violent suspects that were in our community. In 2011, the Fugitive Task Force was responsible for 51 arrests and 17 Career Offender verifications. The Sexual Offender /Predator /Gang Tracking Unit is responsible for monitoring all the sexual offenders and predators residing in Okaloosa County to ensure compliance with registration and notification requirements in accordance with law. The unit staffed by two full time investigators is also responsible for the identification and designation of criminal street gang members and associates. Florida law allows for stricter sentencing enhancements for gang members that engage in criminal activities to enhance the gang. Investigators assigned to the Sexual Offender /Predator and Gang Tracking Unit also serve as Special Deputy United States Marshals and assist the Violent Fugitive Task Force. In 2011, the Sexual Offender /Predator Gang Unit initiated 137 gang member /associate reports, and conducted 366 Sexual Offender /Predator verifications and made 18 arrests. 151 Pa g In recent years as Okaloosa County' s population has climbed steadily, the County has also experienced an increase in serious street level crimes. The Okaloosa County Sheriffs Office however has taken proactive steps to combat this problem by forming the Okaloosa County Sheriff' s Office Street Crimes Unit. The unit is made up of 7 highly motivated and specially trained Deputies whose job entails identifying crime trends and monitoring high crime areas and known criminals. In 2011 the Street Crimes unit made 327 arrests, seized illicit drugs valued in excess of $ 12, 980. The Street Crimes Unit targets a wide -range of criminal activity including street -side and in -home narcotics sales, burglary, robbery, and prostitution. It also focuses on locating and arresting wanted individuals. The unit consists of a supervisor, six deputies, and one K -9 officer; all of which work individually and as a team to follow up information, verify that information and arrest criminals in Okaloosa County. The Street Crimes unit is dedicated to making the streets safer for all citizens who reside in Okaloosa County. The sheriffs office has provided contract law enforcement to municipalities for many years. These contract services provide exclusive law enforcement officers employed by the sheriffs office instead of a municipality maintaining their own police department. These exclusive services have been very cost effective for the cities. Historically these services were provided at less than the services actually cost to provide. Upon taking office in 2010 Sheriff Ashley reviewed the cost models for contract services in order to better recover the cost of exclusive city services. The costing model for exclusive contract services was corrected for FY 2012 to include the recovery of direct costs for vehicles, employee leave coverage and other ancillary support functions. This proposal includes the updated cost model and while personnel, operational, and capital expense factors may rise or fall with economic conditions, the sheriff has committed that this cost model will not change during future contracts. It should be noted that there are many additional cost factors that are not included in this cost model of which the contracting agencies receive direct and indirect benefit. 161 Page  PERSONNEL ALLOCATION ANALYSIS Patrol is the backbone of all local law enforcement agencies. Patrol units are the first to arrive at an emergency. Patrol units are in the marked police cars that patrol your neighborhoods looking for suspicious circumstances, enforcing traffic violations, and responding to calls for service. In this proposal the sheriff' s office will maintain the same number of patrol units available as the current patrol deployment. Fw8 Current OCSO DRAFT- Patrol Patrol Units Units Day Swing Mid Day Split Night Available Available 0600 5 5 0700 5 5 0800 5 5 0900 5 5 1000 5 5 1100 5 5 1200