Jan 10, 2012
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Citizen Police Academy Opening Night on January 5th, 2012
The Citizen Police Academy held by the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office kicked off its first run of the program in 2012 last Wednesday evening on January 5th. Citizens enrolled in the Academy were treated to dinner before the opening course began with pizzas catered by the evenings sponsor Kays Pizza who are currently located in Deep Creek, they provided a variety of different pizzas with a variety of toppings that included two delicious white pizzas topped with pepperoni and bacon. First class deputy Michael Maschmeier who has a pedigree of thirty three years in law enforcement is the individual in charge of running the academy and introduced himself to the packed full house of thirty two attendees, each attendee was handed their own personal binder full of information and course material. A brief video presentation (Video Below) about the Sheriffs Office was shown to class attendees that gave a in depth presentation on the background, infrastructure, and operations of the department. Sheriff Bill Cameron then gave a speech that spanned over a hour and fifteen minutes that spanned over a wide variety of topics. Sheriff Bill Cameron ended his speech with a fifteen minute question and answer session where class participants asked the Sheriff questions that they were interested in. Enrolled attendees were then led for a tour into the command room where they were given a roughly twenty minute in depth breakdown of how a emergency call is responded in a extensive in depth presentation that detailed the structure of response,the computer system that intercepts calls, and how calls are directed to first responders. Class participants were also brought to the arms unit where the intelligence division of the department is located and given a glimpse into the state of the art intel gathering program.
The speech by Sheriff Bill Cameron began with him letting the class know about his departments close relationship with the city of Punta Gorda Police Department and how close the two agencies work together and the professional relationship built for law enforcement in Charlotte County. He explained the four districts that the Sheriffs Office works which are composed of the Englewood District, Myakka River to Port Charlotte District, Port Charlotte and Deep Creek District, and Punta Gorda District which runs all the way to Lee and Henry County. Each district is composed of four separate patrols at any given time resulting in sixteen patrols on the road at any given time of the day, each district is headed by a lieutenant and its own criminal investigations unit. This figure does not include any aviation units, K-9 units, or school resource officers who are on duty as each public school in Charlotte County each and every day. The class was taught in great detail about the internal departments composed the offices’ intelligence unit that gathers data and analyzes it as well as the investigation unit that deals in sex crimes, narcotics, computer crimes, fraud crimes, property crimes, crimes against people and economic crimes. The class taught students that the sheriff is responsible for all the law agencies in each county and how city population statistics determine the amount of officers gauged for duty in each county of which Charlotte County employs a 1.8 Officer amount per one thousand residents. Since Bill Cameron took over he has stretched squad car life spans to an unheard of amount of five to six years and gotten rid of a disastrous five hundred thousand dollar car lease debt, the county goes not by mileage but only on vehicle maintenance records when deciding to purchase new cars, they only get rid of cars when it becomes to expensive to keep them running and get vehicles surfaced at all three of the ford/ mercury dealerships of Charlotte County putting money back into the local economy. Despite rising costs, Sheriff Bill Cameron has maintained a flat budget for eight years and never once dipped into reserves which is five percent of the cities budget they hold in case of emergency while cutting only forty jobs in the past 3 years. He has also never once cut his cold case division as its remains a vital part of the department composed of retired military personal.
The class was also taught about the Charlotte County Jailing system and the inmate systems currently held. The Charlotte County on average houses about 9,000 persons each year and is a state of the art complex. It is not just a time out area for individuals currently under incarceration, awaiting bail, or being denied bail. The majority of individuals choose to spend their time serving their temporary home in programs such as lawn care, custodial duties or working at the farm. Typically about eighty percent of persons in the jail are only there awaiting bond or for being denied bond. The Charlotte County Jail is unique in that it has it’s own hydroponic farm where it grows several different forms of vegetation, the jail also houses a catfish farm where the fish are raised and grown to adulthood. The jail also houses a worm farm that is used to get rid of excess compost and food to grow nutrient rich top soil for use in the hydroponic vegetable farms. The catfish and the vegetables are then used in the food program for the jail. This process aims to keep inmates productive during their stay and to build a work ethic with life skills to take back into their lives after they are released. The jail also offers classes to inmates on alcohol abuse, stress management, and anger management.
Sheriff Bill Cameron hit on a wide variety of topics in the question and answer session including how he compensates delegating a high amount of requested officers for duty detail at area events despite being on a very tight budget, inflation affecting each years annual budget, the switch to a mandatory bullet proof vest policy as a result of the increased murders on police officers, the Vietnam era Huey choppers that the department uses for search and rescue duties, the class was informed on the rescue choppers success in finding a man who was stranded 15 miles off the coast after breaking down and being swept off course by off shore currents just two months ago as well as the methods of search and rescue used in different situations.
Charlotte County Sheriffs Office Informational Video
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Citizen Police Academy Opening Night on January 5th, 2012
Article written and video filmed by Peter Aratari of Punta Gorda Florida Today, Article Published on January 7th, 2012
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