Mostly Cloudy, 61°
Weather sponsored by:

CCSO hit hardest by new school police department recruitment

By Wesley LeBlanc Staff Writer
Posted 6/26/19

When the Clay County School Board voted to create a police department, Superintendent Addison Davis put out a public call for officers with a high level of law enforcement experience.

While the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

CCSO hit hardest by new school police department recruitment


Posted

When the Clay County School Board voted to create a police department, Superintendent Addison Davis put out a public call for officers with a high level of law enforcement experience.

While the school’s roster of officers is now full, it came at the expense of other agencies – particularly the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.

Five of the 45 new school officers came from CCSO. While five isn’t an alarming number, it leaves the sheriff’s office almost 50 officers short compared to other agencies.

“These aren’t number we’re pulling out of a hat,” CCSO Public Information Officer Chris Padgett said. “These are the state averages we are behind on.”

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement calculates the size of a police force based on population, Padgett said. For example, FDLE figures a town with 1,000 people likely needs five officers.

Padgett said CCSO is 50 officers lower than FDLE’s recommendations.

A major reason officers left other jurisdictions is the school department’s starting salary. A new Clay County sheriff deputy starts at $38,000 a year, while the school board is paying $40,000. Clay’s starting rate is higher than Baker and Bradford counties, as well as the Duval County School Police Department.

“If an officer sees that extra $2,000 and needs to take it, or wants to take it, we understand,” Padgett said. “We’ve got a wonderful relationship with them.”

Another obstacle for the county is finding a way to pay for needed officers,

“Our budget doesn’t allow it currently,” Padgett said. “We can only act within the confines of what the budget provides. The thing about that, though, is that it the budget is broken down into allotted amounts only to be used in certain areas.”

The Board of County Commissioners mulled over Sheriff Darryl Daniels’ 2019-20 budget proposal of nearly $68 million – a $10.2 million increase compared to the current fiscal year – earlier this month. Since the increase likely would require the BCC to raise their millage by one full mill, the board failed to approve it. They asked Daniels to further explain his request for a 15% increase.

“The sheriff wanted $13 million but negotiated to $10.2 million,” Padgett said. “They’re being told they’re going to have less than $7 million. To effectively run and hire these people [the 50 officers CCSO needs to meet the state average], we need more money.”

Padgett said he understands the BCC’s trepidation with the increase in budget, but said the number came from the CCSO’s CFO, Elise Gann.

“It’s her job to create a budget that we can use to adequately protect the citizens of Clay County,” Padgett said.

If Daniels’ budget eventually is approved, all $10.2 million cannot be used to hire new officers.

“I believe if we had the funding, it’d be a start,” Padgett said. “What we have presented to the BCC is a five-year plan because the thing is we need those deputies today. Pending we don’t lose any other deputies, pending the county doesn’t grow, then 47 deputies is reasonable within the next five years.

“But, Clay County is one of the fastest-growing counties in the state and to think we’re not going to grow is unreasonable. 47 is what we need right now, but in five years, that number could be 147. That’s why we need to begin hiring now.

“If we don’t get these budget increases and if we don’t start hiring in masses, we’re not going to be able to catch up and we’re going to get behind.”

Padgett said losing officers to another department isn’t new. Neither is a difference in salaries.

“We’ve got wonderful St. Johns right there and we have a great relationship,” Padgett said. “We’ve got wonderful [Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office] just north of us and we have a great relationship with them. They all pay considerably higher. We’re surrounded by counties that pay more.”

CCSO won’t change its pay scale to compete with other agencies, Padgett said.

“A lot come to work here because they want to serve this community,” Padgett said.

The sheriff’s office won’t compete monetarily for officers. Instead, it will rely on variety of responsibilities, upward movement and a love for Clay County.

“Right now, we offer what we offer,” Padgett said. “We have a wide variety of things you can do. We have specialty teams to be involved in. We’re the largest law enforcement organization in the county, which means we have more opportunities for advancement in law enforcement in the area. We’re a good agency to work for that offers diversity and variety in all areas.

“This doesn’t mean that [the Orange Park Police Department] and [the Green Cove Springs Police Department] and [the Clay County School District Police Department] doesn’t offer all of that,” Padgett said. “They are wonderful organizations, but at the end of the day, we rely on the fact that people want to, and will want to, work for us.”