Walton County and City Law Enforcement

[sunspotbaby]

Robberies burglaries and larcenies are more "preventable" than are rapes and assaults. This is done through proactive, responsible law enforcement. Consider this...A seasoned police officer has more street knkowledge than your every day rookie and has learned what looks right and what doesnt, and who the players are and where they live. When an agency has alot of turn over (attrition) then you lose those streetwise officers and many are replaced by those that are just beginning their career. I believe attrition can play a huge role in crime stats. Its a vicious circle sometimes isnt it?

This is so true. I worked for my hometown city police dept. for several years and while we had some "veterans" in the dept. we also had our fair share of "rookies".
The vets on the force are probably the biggest asset for law enforcement. They "know" the criminal element, where they live, what they drive, who they're related to and who they associate with . This is valuable knowledge that rookies just don't bring to the table, so high turnover is never a good thing when it comes to solving crime or preventing it.

 

[HenryHawk]

Robberies burglaries and larcenies are more "preventable" than are rapes and assaults. This is done through proactive, responsible law enforcement. Consider this...A seasoned police officer has more street knkowledge than your every day rookie and has learned what looks right and what doesnt, and who the players are and where they live. When an agency has alot of turn over (attrition) then you lose those streetwise officers and many are replaced by those that are just beginning their career. I believe attrition can play a huge role in crime stats. Its a vicious circle sometimes isnt it?

Oh, I so agree with your statement...thank you.

And for the rest that want to paint DFS with it's staggering population of just over 5100 folks as NYC South...think again.

Chief Adkinson will bring that sense of DFS espirit de corps to the WCSO -- no thanks Mike, and no thanks to your so-called fiscal responsibility, and one last thing: someone please settle the rumor that Adkinson plans on moving his officers over to th SO, effectively shutting down the DFSPD and then 'offering' to patrol DFS???? Is it just rumor????

 

[idlewind]

Oh, I so agree with your statement...thank you.

And for the rest that want to paint DFS with it's staggering population of just over 5100 folks as NYC South...think again.

Chief Adkinson will bring that sense of DFS espirit de corps to the WCSO -- no thanks Mike, and no thanks to your so-called fiscal responsibility, and one last thing: someone please settle the rumor that Adkinson plans on moving his officers over to th SO, effectively shutting down the DFSPD and then 'offering' to patrol DFS???? Is it just rumor????

I hate to disappoint you my friend, but I clearly remember Chief Adkinson standing up to Ralph and Glidewell when they tried to take over the city police dept a couple of years ago. Therefore, it would be a bit hypocritical to go back on that strong stand which was the first time he called Ralph out.

 

[idlewind]

Idlewind, how many rapes do police officers prevent? How many murders do officers prevent. How many break ins do they prevent. I don't care what TV cops jobs are, but I can tell you that police may try to be proactive, but the officers typically show up to investigate crimes AFTER the crime has been committed. That is the biggest reason to learn how to protect yourself and your family and neighbors. When you call the cops, they have to drive to your house before they can do anything, and that is usually too late for prevention.

Hey, I'm with ya Bro. Let us get together and petition both the County Commission and the City Council to cut out all of these expensive patrol cars that burn a huge amount of expensive gasoline riding around the country.Since they do not prevent crime, we don't need um and the savings can be returned to the taxpayers. All we need is a small number of investigators to take reports and we can use the tax rebates to buy the large number of guns and ammo we'll need to fend off the miscreants.

 

[drivingthru]

I hate to disappoint you my friend, but I clearly remember Chief Adkinson standing up to Ralph and Glidewell when they tried to take over the city police dept a couple of years ago. Therefore, it would be a bit hypocritical to go back on that strong stand which was the first time he called Ralph out.

Alas Ma' Dear....Ever heard of "I promise not to run for Sheriff for six years"? Maybe thats his big scheme...I can hear it now..."...after further reasearch I believe we can be more fiscally responsible and provide the citizens of DeFuniak with a higher quality of Law Enforcement Service than they are currently recieving" Oh wait...that was my department.

 

[Mike AdkinsonJr]

I appreciate the effort the previous poster put into educating the public about budgetary considerations; however, I must point out a few problem areas in his comparison:

At the time, I took over the DFSP there were 14 officers (including chief) and there had not been an officer added to that department in 25 years. In 1985, 14 officers handled around 2,500 calls for service. In 2005, the same number of officers (14) handled around 14,000 calls for service. Officers routinely worked by themselves, which presented serious safety concerns.

The current population of DeFuniak Springs is around 8500. This does not take into account the average daily population. This refers to the fact that as the county seat, large numbers of the county population live just outside of the city limits. DeFuniak also hosts the majority of stores and government offices north of the bay. These population facts were presented at several meetings in 2005/06, at which point the City Council agreed that there should be an increase of officers.

We presented a plan to add 5 officers over 3 years. This was accomplished in October of 2007. Our cost per 1000 citizens is around $205,468.23. Two factors are also relevant in this observation: 1) Approximately $330,000 was added as a capital expenditure for the purchase of cars in 2007; and 2) the Sheriff unexpectedly ended the 30-year agreement between our agencies to provide dispatch services. This forced us to build, equip, staff and train a dispatch center in 6 months. We completed this ahead of schedule and below budget, saving the citizens of DeFuniak Springs over $100,000 by working with the Okaloosa Board of Co Commissioners (who donated our PSAP/911 equipment).

I am glad to hear that several of the other candidates have now adopted my position on unifying 911/dispatch services, which is a pillar of my platform. Also, in the DFSP 2007/08 budget, we were able to find almost $90,000 that was erroneously diverted from the police department?s budget over the course of 10 years. That money was placed into our budget to allow us to put computers in our cars at no cost to the taxpayer.
We then found that for the last 28 years, the city of DeFuniak Springs helped subsidize the Sheriff?s training budget instead of funding its own police department. The training budget was so underfunded that in 2005 the training budget for the entire agency was only $593.00. Since then, we have increased the training budget to $15,000 for the 2008/09 budget, thereby increasing our level of service and professionalism. We also added a fitness policy with a financial incentive (2006/7).


Budget increase breakdown:
The police officers pay was raised from $21,500 to $29,500.
5 new police officers
5 new dispatchers
Equipment for said staff.

Fiscal responsibility is not refusing to spend money, it is spending money wisely.
I 100% stand behind the increase in budget at DFSP.


Concerning crime statistics, I could literally write a book on the problem with them. I spoke on several occasions in 2005 and 2007 about inaccuracies in the way statistics have been kept at DFSP. (Chief Burgess also brought this up in 2003). There are plenty of examples of agencies playing with the numbers: for example, if you enter into someone?s car and take their wallet, many agencies report this as a theft instead of the correct charge, which is burglary of a conveyance. Essentially theft does not look as bad as burglary on state reports. It is manipulation plan and simple.

I am not sure why FDLE shows the WCSO with 141 deputies on its site. The 2007 and 08 Budget submitted to the County shows 165 deputies.

We did lose five officers in 2007. Money was obviously a factor as our starting pay was about 3,000 below a starting deputy and the family plan insurance is $800 a month for a DFSP officer. Of the five officers we lost, two were let go; one for disciplinary reasons, the second failed to complete his training program. The other three had family/financial issues and I consider them part of our family and routinely have contact with them.

I have tried to explain briefly the budget issues that were brought forward. Anyone who has ever prepared a governmental line item budget is certainly aware that they can be cumbersome and that funds are handled differently than with private entities. I tried not to be overly detail-oriented in my response to avoid confusion. It is very difficult to respond to multiple questions in one post, some of which seem designed to elicit long drawn-out responses.

I hope that anyone who has any questions will email me directly at Chiefmike911@embarqmail.com.

 

[HenryHawk]

"someone please settle the rumor that Adkinson plans on moving his officers over to th SO, effectively shutting down the DFSPD and then 'offering' to patrol DFS???? Is it just rumor????"

Quoting myself

Chief, any credence to this story?

 

[drivingthru]

I appreciate the effort the previous poster put into educating the public about budgetary considerations; however, I must point out a few problem areas in his comparison:

At the time, I took over the DFSP there were 14 officers (including chief) and there had not been an officer added to that department in 25 years. In 1985, 14 officers handled around 2,500 calls for service. In 2005, the same number of officers (14) handled around 14,000 calls for service. Officers routinely worked by themselves, which presented serious safety concerns.

The current population of DeFuniak Springs is around 8500. This does not take into account the average daily population. This refers to the fact that as the county seat, large numbers of the county population live just outside of the city limits. DeFuniak also hosts the majority of stores and government offices north of the bay. These population facts were presented at several meetings in 2005/06, at which point the City Council agreed that there should be an increase of officers.

We presented a plan to add 5 officers over 3 years. This was accomplished in October of 2007. Our cost per 1000 citizens is around $205,468.23. Two factors are also relevant in this observation: 1) Approximately $330,000 was added as a capital expenditure for the purchase of cars in 2007; and 2) the Sheriff unexpectedly ended the 30-year agreement between our agencies to provide dispatch services. This forced us to build, equip, staff and train a dispatch center in 6 months. We completed this ahead of schedule and below budget, saving the citizens of DeFuniak Springs over $100,000 by working with the Okaloosa Board of Co Commissioners (who donated our PSAP/911 equipment).

I am glad to hear that several of the other candidates have now adopted my position on unifying 911/dispatch services, which is a pillar of my platform. Also, in the DFSP 2007/08 budget, we were able to find almost $90,000 that was erroneously diverted from the police department?s budget over the course of 10 years. That money was placed into our budget to allow us to put computers in our cars at no cost to the taxpayer.
We then found that for the last 28 years, the city of DeFuniak Springs helped subsidize the Sheriff?s training budget instead of funding its own police department. The training budget was so underfunded that in 2005 the training budget for the entire agency was only $593.00. Since then, we have increased the training budget to $15,000 for the 2008/09 budget, thereby increasing our level of service and professionalism. We also added a fitness policy with a financial incentive (2006/7).


Budget increase breakdown:
The police officers pay was raised from $21,500 to $29,500.
5 new police officers
5 new dispatchers
Equipment for said staff.

Fiscal responsibility is not refusing to spend money, it is spending money wisely.
I 100% stand behind the increase in budget at DFSP.


Concerning crime statistics, I could literally write a book on the problem with them. I spoke on several occasions in 2005 and 2007 about inaccuracies in the way statistics have been kept at DFSP. (Chief Burgess also brought this up in 2003). There are plenty of examples of agencies playing with the numbers: for example, if you enter into someone?s car and take their wallet, many agencies report this as a theft instead of the correct charge, which is burglary of a conveyance. Essentially theft does not look as bad as burglary on state reports. It is manipulation plan and simple.

I am not sure why FDLE shows the WCSO with 141 deputies on its site. The 2007 and 08 Budget submitted to the County shows 165 deputies.

We did lose five officers in 2007. Money was obviously a factor as our starting pay was about 3,000 below a starting deputy and the family plan insurance is $800 a month for a DFSP officer. Of the five officers we lost, two were let go; one for disciplinary reasons, the second failed to complete his training program. The other three had family/financial issues and I consider them part of our family and routinely have contact with them.

I have tried to explain briefly the budget issues that were brought forward. Anyone who has ever prepared a governmental line item budget is certainly aware that they can be cumbersome and that funds are handled differently than with private entities. I tried not to be overly detail-oriented in my response to avoid confusion. It is very difficult to respond to multiple questions in one post, some of which seem designed to elicit long drawn-out responses.

I hope that anyone who has any questions will email me directly at Chiefmike911@embarqmail.com.

Sorry...confused from the first paragraph

 

[drivingthru]

And wasnt there some sort of impact fee that was tossed in to help your department only? Isnt that a bit of double taxation?

 

[HenryHawk]

"someone please settle the rumor that Adkinson plans on moving his officers over to th SO, effectively shutting down the DFSPD and then 'offering' to patrol DFS???? Is it just rumor????"

Quoting myself

Chief, any credence to this story?

Asking again.................