Sheriff Chitwood's 2017 year-end message

This has been an incredible year at the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. I came in here with high expectations and a long list of goals, and I have been blown away by the men and women who have worked their tails off to accomplish so much in our first year. We launched COMPSTAT and made all kinds of technological advancements in our Volusia County Crime Center and across the agency. There’s lots more to come in 2018. We revamped our Training program and made huge strides with our focus on de-escalation tactics. We streamlined the hiring process to get more deputies on the road faster without sacrificing any of the high standards of this agency. We worked hard with the county to secure a contract proposal with pay increases that I know will improve the lives of our deputies and employees. We weathered Hurricane Irma, excelled under pressure and came out of the storm even stronger than we were before. We saw Part I crime drop 21 percent countywide , and even more than that in a place like Deltona, our biggest city, where Part I crimes are down 29 percent from 2015. Those numbers are stunning, they’re incredible, and they’re a credit to the hard work our people are doing day in and day out. In the midst of everything else, we went through the international accreditation process with CALEA this year, and came away with stellar ratings and high praise from the experts who came here to evaluate our agency. I could go on and on about how proud I am of what we accomplished in 2017. This is just a short overview. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in all the years ahead. Thank you all, and check back soon for a video recap of VCSO 2017! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you!