In the spirit of cooperation, the Sheriff's Office steps in to operate a substation when a police presence is requested.
By DUANE BOURNE
Published May 4, 2004
[Times photo: Kevin White]
Volunteer Henry "Ford" Catrett, 80, opens the Sheriff's Office substation in Hillside Estates from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The Sheriff's Office reopened the satellite office Friday.
BROOKSVILLE - Five feet from what appears to be a small-caliber bullet hole, a sign in the front window reads: City of Brooksville Police Department Community Service Center. Right next to it, another sign, painted in the sheriff's evergreen and gold, is emblazoned with the letters: Hillside Estates Substation.
As evidence of the growing cooperation between the Sheriff's Office and the Police Department, both signs will remain at the converted apartment. The Sheriff's Office opened the new venture April 1.
"It's not exclusive to us," Sheriff Richard Nugent said. "The turf wars are counterproductive. No one can do it alone, law enforcement or the community."
The idea of reopening the satellite office at 325 Continental Drive, an apartment donated by the Brooksville Housing Authority, was conceived in December when officials from the federally subsidized housing complex requested additional police presence to deal with drug dealing and prostitution in the neighborhood.
The apartment had been used to store old refrigerators. Before the Sheriff's Office personnel swept and painted the apartment, there was only one basketball goal with no backboard around back. The mural of the United States had faded from years of inattention.
During the cleanup, residents brought deputies bags of marijuana and crack cocaine.
"We know that on the same day we moved in, there were three groups moving out," Nugent said. "Hey, whatever works."
The Hillside Estates Substation is a stone's throw from the Roger's Christmas House, the unofficial boundary separating the colonial-lined streets of Brooksville from the beige-colored apartment complexes with faux shutters painted in fuchsia and lime green.
The idea for a substation has been kicked around awhile. In 1995, the Brooksville Housing Authority donated an apartment at 351 Union St. to the Police Department for use as an office. While a police officer dropped into the office during daily rounds, the office could not be permanently staffed and was soon abandoned.
Four years later, the city revisited a plan to convert another apartment into an office there, and erected barricades on the main arteries in an attempt to thwart the drug traffic and dealers' escape routes.
Eventually, perennial budget constraints and a shortage of staff forced the Police Department to ditch the substation and other quality of life initiatives.
But Brooksville police Chief Ed Tincher asserts that the unsuccessful attempts to keep the doors at 325 Continental Drive open do not mean his department can't ensure the safety of city residents, especially those who live in Brooksville's low-income housing complexes.
In fact, Tincher hopes to reoccupy the substation and evict the Sheriff's Office from Hillside Estates, so to speak, when the Police Department is able to staff the office permanently.
"I am not getting heartburn over it," Tincher said. "People add meaning to things such as the reopening as something negative about the department. My focus and our responsibilities are to the people of the community and the entire community."
The Sheriff's Office and the Brooksville Police Department have been involved recently in cooperative initiatives, such as the creation of an antidrug task force, that represent a major turn around in their historically tepid relationship.
"In the past, they did their thing and we did ours," Nugent said. "In the last year and a half we have been looking at the entire area as a whole instead of little pieces. The working relationship with the city is improving over the years. You will have a little friction but we are striving to work together."
The revived substation became fully operational April 14, when Jim Powers of the Sheriff's Office used his cell phone to check whether the office's telephone was working.
Before the telephone worked, Henry "Ford" Catrett, an 80-year-old volunteer, normally would sit behind this desk waiting for someone to come by. Usually the children scurry into the office to ask for basketballs.
"More or less, I take complaints. This is the second week," Catrett said, holding the yellow sticky pad closer to the light. The number is 799-2815.
A paid volunteer with the Sheriff's Office for four years, Catrett goes to the substation five days a week, Tuesday through Saturday. Each day when he arrives at noon and opens the doors to begin his four-hour shift, Catrett is greeted by the neighbor in the apartment next door.
"It makes you feel good and makes you feel that people want us here," Catrett said. "I like to judge my job by the people next door. You can't judge them by the sour apples."
- Duane Bourne can be reached at 352 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com
