penel County Sheriff Bob gualter tight economy tight budgets how's that affecting the sheriff's department in this new year Well very significantly especially because of the past uh We've cut our general fund budget in the last four years by $18 million and reduced it by 600 positions and so as we look forward now to Preparing the fiscal year 14 budget which we are in the midst of doing now and have to submit it this spring um by accounts uh it's not looking any better so it's very challenging and we're at a point in many of our components where we just can't cut anymore because we have to draw that line because we can't let it affect Public Safety we've had great successes even with those budget cuts crimes down in our jurisdiction the last three years by 12% arrests are up uh but we have to stop at a certain point you just can't do anymore so it's a great Challenge and and we'll know more as we get into January February what the specific numbers look like uh but it doesn't look like uh we're going to get much reprieve now you plead your case in Tallahassee no actually the sheriff's budget comes from the County Commission um and the sheriff is an independent constitutional office uh the sheriff answers just to the voters the sheriff has a role though with County government and that the sheriff's budget uh comes from the county and comes from the County Commission so uh they're the ones that uh set the countywide millage and so our budget comes from the county but all all the county sheriff's departments are having having the same issues some probably with deeper Cuts than than even pelis or Hillsboro well that's true and and some well I you know in true to a point I I I think that the penel County Sheriff's Office and I talked to the sheriffs around the state I think that we've experienced if not the deepest certainly one of the deepest we've experienced deeper Cuts than Hillsboro has really yes and uh I I know broward's experienced some deep Cuts but um we're probably on par with Broward from what I know and in but in some cases in some counties around the state they really haven't experienced serious reductions uh some of it is how it's done in individual counties and some of the priorities that are set um and but here in pelis County for the last four years we have really I'd say we're at the Top If not leading the state as far as cuts are concerned wow how does this affect the budget cuts have to be affecting police departments and you have a whole lot of of of individual uh cities within the county and they most all of them have a police department of some size they've got to be experiencing the same issues that that you have sure and again some more than others and uh on January 6th uh the St Pete Beach Police Department uh will cease to exist and uh the pen County Sheriff's Office will now be the police provider in St Pete Beach so that means 13 of penel County's 24 cities uh don't have a police dep department they contract with the Sheriff's Office to be their police provider the savings to St Pete Beach on an annual basis is about $2.5 million yeah but the budget comes back to you well then it's your problem well right it is it is but it's still savings and because if nothing else from economies of scale it it'll be a big savings and that's driven because of the fiscal situation that the city's in big problem with their pension fund and and other fiscal considerations so definitely the finances affect the city police departments again some more than others and it depends from City to city um and what their tax base is and what their revenue is and the housing market all the budgets and economy being talked about yall still acquired some new vehicles didn't you we did um and we have well of course some unique vehicles I should probably say well they are yeah we we've we're transitioning our Fleet uh to chevi tahos unfortunately and gosh I wish that Ford had continued to make the crown Vick they are the really the quintessential police car what everybody knows to be a police car and they have and we would have continued with the crown vix because they're a great car I drive one and uh it's got almost 880,000 Mi on it but still running strong they're great vehicles and they last a long time but Ford stopped making them and uh it told us a couple years ago it was coming and then eventually they just said stop and we're not going to you're going to get your last one you're not getting anything else so what we did is is looked at the market of what are police vehicles because they have to be rated specifically for Pursuits and for police function and there's only a few manufacturers of them uh there's the Dodge Charger uh there's a Chevy Anda Ford had a couple products out the Ford products were very new prototype type products um and we asked the deputies to drive them and make sure that they were conducive and they'd fit our needs and unfortunately most of the new cars are very very small cars uh it's tough to get all the equipment in them especially when you have two person cars um you're sitting in there crunched in on the passenger side so one of the vehicles we looked at was the police rated Chevy Tahoe and actually because we're buying it under the state contract is that we're getting it cheaper than we would get the Dodge Charger and it's only about $1,500 more than the small Chevy Impala which doesn't work for us operationally so we're getting it at a great price and we're getting it cheaper than we would if we actually bought a car in the Dodge Charger so it's it's very competitive and they bigger vehicles or safe Vehicles they'll meet our needs so we're going to transition the fleet over to the tahos yeah you guys are like rolling computer it units when you're out on the road anymore oh absolutely we've got so much equipment in in those vehicles and the the Trunks and out the back of the tahos are just chalk full of everything and you got all kinds of electronics and all kinds of computers and and tons of equipment in in in all the vehicles and it gets very tight in there so you got to have something that the deputies can work out of just hire hire smaller shorter people yeah you know no we we don't want to you know take everybody but uh it's it's their office so you have to be comfortable and have to has to be functional most importantly couple of things that come to mind I saw a article in one of the papers the other day uh there's an ongoing discussion about the traffic cameras at Major intersections and and uh the article read something like the crashes are up or there are more crashes at at these particular intersections so obviously the debate hasn't been satisfied by everybody no and I think that that the article you're talking about and I saw the same uh article uh was in I believe the St Pete Times They had to do within the City of St Petersburg and uh they installed Rite cameras in the city of St Pete uh earlier this year and they've done an analysis and of the from the citations but the report shows that crashes are up at some of the intersections where they do have the red light cameras so the no the debate has not been settled the debate goes on personally uh I'm not uh in favor of red light cameras um I think that there should be interaction between the deputy or the officer and the Violator and based on the totality of the circumstances a decision should be made how to handle that particular violation whether it's appropriate for a warning it's appropriate for a citation just to have somebody sitting there watching a TV monitor and if the wheels happen to cross the line on the road uh then somebody automatically gets uh $156 ticket um I don't think personally I'm not a fan of that I don't think that's the way it should be I think you should take into account a lot of the factors including the driving itself uh the dangerousness of it or lack thereof the Violator history or lack thereof and sometimes you can have just as effective traffic enforcement with the warnings as you can tickets and I think there needs to be that interaction and I think that traffic enforcement needs to be done for public safety not as a revenue generator and but only for Public Safety purposes and traffic safety purposes and I think that requires interaction between the deputy and uh the the citizen who commits a traffic violation so I uh am not a fan of of the red light cameras and we don't have any in the County area um and and I've had some discussions with some of the County Commissioners about it they've asked about it from an ordinance standpoint I'm not a fan of it or in favor of it and uh I I do support and we uh do all the time uh traffic enforcement and effective traffic enforcement but just to have again a line in the road in a camera and it becomes a gotcha type system where people got to pay I I don't support that and another Hot Topic internet cafes sure are they are they still open is it a state issue is it County County issue what's the status of that well it should be a state issue uh I I would hope and ask that the legislature deal with the issue uh I don't know whether they will this session or not uh there's been some discussion and some effort uh in previous sessions to deal with it hasn't gone anywhere uh as far as we're concerned when you apply Florida law to the internet cafes they are illegal uh there are those on the other side uh who can make arguments that they're not I don't think those arguments hold any water and we've had successful prosecutions as a result of existing law but because of existing law that really hasn't kept up with the technology it provides some arguments uh for those on the other side so they think they can push the envelope and they open these things up and uh we get complaints about them our policy right now is is that in pelis county is that we will uh investigate them when we receive complaints uh there's a lot of significant issues in our community a lot of big issues and we have to use our resources wisely just as we were talking about a couple minutes ago with the so we don't go out proactively we don't go out seeking it out but when we get complaints then we have an obligation to conduct an investigation and if we send people in and determine that they're in violation uh we ask them to shut down we send them a letter and ask them to shut down and hopefully get voluntary compliance if we don't get voluntary compliance then we'll take the appropriate enforcement action we'd rather just people voluntarily comply some counties Hillsboro is one of them who enacted ordinances and so some of it becomes on a county bycount basis but state is there state law is effective state law applies but again there is some room for those who want to make an argument that the law doesn't apply to the internet cafes again I disagree with that uh but uh the legislature I hope will take this up and um solve that debate uh and either way and either the and it's a policy decision I believe it should be a Statewide policies decisions so that people know from County to county that everybody knows what the rules are is either affirm that they are illegal uh by making some tweaks to the statute that takes away that argument on the other side um or if the legislature so decided that they wanted to make them legal and regulate them but let everybody know what the rules are so they can act accordingly I think business people want to uh certainly make money they want to get engaged in profitable Endeavors but they want to comply with the law too and there's there's a little bit of room out there where there's debate and I think that debate for fairness to everybody needs to be eliminated well it it goes back to what you were saying when you've got fewer and fewer people to do the job of of protection you really have to prioritize and and there are other things still have a drug issue is that a big deal oh absolutely it's still the biggest issue we have and the well you're dealing with prescription stuff now sure the prescription drug abuse epidemic is the number one issue the number one public safety issue and most likely it will continue to be for a long time uh because it spills over into many other things and uh we are deal with it we're dealing with it effectively but we as law enforcement are not going to solve this problem and we can't arrest our way out of the problem because it's an addiction problem and it has to be approached from a multifaceted uh perspective and that is there has to be prevention education treatment and enforcement but enforcement isn't going to solve it because it's addiction if we're going to try and make a real effort at solving the problem it's going to have to be done through prevention education and treatment uh because you can lock people up and if it's an addiction issue an addiction issue they're going to be right back out on the street again and right back at it so it becomes a revolving door uh but it affects the reason why it's so just horrific is because and it's unlike no problem we've seen before is because it affects all walks of life and it crosses all socioeconomic lines all Races ages National Origins gender you know back in the '90s when crack cocaine was the drug of choice and and really a crack cocaine epidemic you generally didn't see people 80 85 years old addicted to crack cocaine today you see people 80 85 years old addicted to painkillers wow you didn't see people uh in in certain socioeconomic areas Addicted to You Know cocaine and crack cocaine and you generally saw especially crack cocaine generally in lower socioeconomic areas but you don't see that with the painkillers and with these opiate-based drugs is is that you see them in people who are 12 or 13 and you see them people who are 80 85 and you see it every from Tarpon Springs to TI verie and from the Gulf to the bay and it it is prolific across our community and so because it's so widespread and then the ease of access because you can just go to the local drug store and get the drugs you don't have to go find a drug dealer on the street corner so you put all that together and it's really a perfect storm this caused a major problem and and you got the kids and I'm saying kids you got Junior High and maybe even older elementary school kids they're doing the pill parties sure and a lot of those came out of a parent medicine cabinet well that's right and and again it goes back to that ease of access you know when when a lot of us were younger uh in your 13 14 15 years old you know we did something bad quote on a Friday or Saturday night probably it was usually drinking a beer right you went to the you went to the refrigerator and you grabbed a beer out of there or a bottle of wine and and said boy this stuff tastes terrible and you spit it out and you never did it and you got sick but you still tried to do it again right well the problem today is is that not only are they grabbing that beer and that wine and that alcohol but they're also going to the pill cabin and they taking those bottles of pills and this is where we're seeing the devastating consequences because the kids do that and they die and and and it's horrific because you start mixing that so uh we ask people when they don't need those medications anymore that they get rid of them uh we have operation medicine cabinet that we do periodically where we collect those also in our two main stations one onton road and one of the north county in dun Eden we have drop boxes there where people can come in any day any time of the day and deposit their uh no longer needed medication so we ask people to not keep them around the house and you don't need them because you eliminate that problem and you know if it's kids especially if you got kids kids or grandkids or uh you know we even see now we get calls where people have them in their house and they have a service provider that comes in it could be anybody that clean the carpets to do electrical work plummy work or something around the house they ask to use the restroom next thing you know the medicine cabinet's cleared out wow so we we get those kinds of calls so it's it's a big problem training programs for the sheriff's department well we do a lot of training uh uh very very important we have and I'll put our training section up against any law enforcement training section in the country and that's one of the things that we have been emphatic about even during these lean times budget times and cutbacks we haven't cut at all in training and we won't uh because we have to make sure that our deputies stay safe and that they're well trained and even better trained now because a fewer of them I mean you're you're expecting some pretty sharp people out on the road absolutely and and training is so important because how you're going to react in a stressful situation is how train uh because it just becomes reactive and uh we built a new fire in range we used uh seiz drug money to do it uh we're building a a a scenario based shoot house out there for training uh and we will continue to do everything we can to have absolutely top-notch training for our deputies helicopters planes we do we have helicopters what's the what's the scope of your Fleet well right now we we have three helicopters uh and we do have some airplanes in fact the the fix wi aircraft of the planes are kind of becoming obsolete and probably I'd say first part of next year or this year we're going to be probably selling some of them because we don't have a need for them anymore the helicopters are absolutely essential uh we have the only flight section law enforcement flight section in pelis county and none of the other so we support not not just all the sheriff's office but every Police Department throughout the county the K9 deputies are out there tracking that helicopter up there watching them is a Lifeline form and a communication source so that everybody else knows where they are during Pursuits uh missing people missing kids uh along the beaches when you have people that are having problems in the Gulf a variety of absolutely necessary situations so so the helicopters our our flight section is is very important to our overall law enforcement Mission here in penel County boats you got a you got a lot of Coastline no we do and we have a marine unit uh an environmental land unit and and the Marine units out there we have deputies on the water 7 days a week uh everywhere from of course the the gulf um in uh the Bayside uh as well as the Lakes we have a couple lakes lake tarp and Lake seal freshwater lakes here in pelis County but our our main focus of course is the uh uh the gulf and the inter Coastal Waterway and and you know Tampa Bay there's a lot of things going on uh you know the sheriff's office is still a big organization we have a lot of responsibility a lot of great people uh the most important thing for us to focus on is to keep the community safe and and to make sure that we continue to drive crime down we've had a lot of success here like I said in in the last three years crime is down 12% for the first 6 months of 2012 it was down another 8% we'll see the numbers here shortly for the whole year arrest are up 28% we have a we've had 100% case closure in our homicides and that's the that's really the the the uh the trick and uh the skill set uh that comes into play here is making sure that we don't take it below waterline and that we don't uh just become satisfied with a status quo uh we and I won't be satisfied unless every single year that we're making making progress at uh keeping the community safe and that means taking the numbers down uh and moving them downward and that's what our focus is going to be for 2013 uh 2014 and Beyond website where people can find information how they can contact Sheriff's Department non-emergency or emergency sure the uh of course anytime anybody has an emergency is D 911 uh the main number for the sheriff's office is 727 582 62000 and a lot of information on our website which is WW w. pcsoweb.com and there's a tremendous amount of information on there on our law enforcement function the jail and a variety of services that we provide to the community pelis County Sheriff Bob gualter