Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

A much-needed sheriff's deputy in the making

With many deputies retiring and fewer in training, Hillsborough County is in need of a few good men - and women.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published June 12, 2006

TAMPA - "Attention, all units, foot pursuit of a signal 18," the voice crackled over the police scanner.

A suspect with an arrest warrant out on him was fleeing sheriff's deputies.

Less than 2 miles away from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's District 3 office, Field Training Officer Deputy Josh Haimes made a U-turn on Gunn Highway, flicking on the squad car's lights and sirens.

In the passenger seat was Deputy Erika Palacios. It was not quite 7 p.m.

A rookie, Palacios was six hours into her 20th day of training, on a shift that would end at 1 a.m.

"An average night out here can be very slow or very busy," Haimes said.

"If it's something like (the foot pursuit), we'll drop what we're doing and go and try to help."

Palacios needs the experience.

She is one of 16 deputies currently training in District 3, their names posted in green on a bulletin board in Capt. Rod Reder's office.

Like many other law enforcement agencies, the Sheriff's Office is dealing with a lot of staff turnover.

"It's nothing for me to lose a body every month, if not every six weeks," Reder said.

Reasons for the high turnover vary from military service commitments to on- and off-the-job injuries.

But in District 3, which covers the northwest corner of the county, retirements are a major cause.

"I lose somebody to retirement, and I just don't have someone to pull off the shelf," Reder said.

Seven, nine and 10 deputies' names fill in the various spaces of the district's squads on Reder's bulletin board. Fully staffed, each squad should have 11.

While the district does what it can to replenish its ranks, it's a slow process.

Rookies like 30-year-old Palacios, who lives in Lutz's Heritage Harbor, go through about 16 weeks of training before they go out on the road on their own.

"They have to handle everything," Reder said, "and then do it again to make sure they're doing it right."

Even with all the training, a rookie probably won't cover every facet of police duty. In quiet Carrollwood, violent street crimes don't happen every day.

"It's not what's on TV," Reder said. And a low crime rate can actually chase away a new recruit who craves action.

"There's a different work force out there today," says Fred Wilson, training director for the National Sheriffs' Association. "There's still a group that looks at the potential adventure side of the job."

Palacios doesn't mind an occasional slow night.

Nor is she entirely green to law enforcement. She has six years' experience in probation and parole. Her husband, District 1 Deputy Xavier Palacios, has been on the force for 15 years.

"It might sound cliche, but I do want to help people," she said.

"I know there are some people who have crimes committed against them and they're scared. I hope they can see beyond the uniform, beyond the badge, beyond the gun, and not be afraid."

Helping could be as simple as aiding an elderly man changing a tire, as Palacios and Haimes did on this Wednesday night.

Or it could be as complex as dealing with a case of child abuse.

About 9 the following night, the two deputies followed up on a slapping match between two 50-something-year-old women.

It had started earlier in the day over missing jewelry and a suspicious charge on one of the women's credit cards. By nightfall, one wanted to file charges. Deputies needed to interview both women.

Arriving at a ranch-style home in Town 'N Country to begin the first interview, Palacios and Haimes move the questioning from the living room to the front yard after eyeing a weathered antique handgun on a TV stand and a not-so-antique double-barreled shotgun in the corner of the home.

They got mosquito bites for their efforts.

Calls came in throughout the night, the crackling voices of dispatchers mixing with the twang of classic country music on the FM radio. One by one they responded to a suspicious car near Carrollwood Station apartments, obscene phone calls at the Carlton Arms apartments in the Egypt Lake area and a battery in Town 'N Country.

For now Haimes and Palacios work as a team - Haimes driving as Palacios types reports into the squad car's computer. She'll be on her own at the end of her 16 weeks of training.

Haimes called in her nightly performance rating during dinner at Sonny's Bar-B-Q on Gunn Highway.

"I have to be willing to learn and comprehend and apply everything," Palacios said between bites of a pulled pork sandwich.

Unnatural pauses litter the deputies' conversation as spatters of chatter come across the scanner.

Even if a call's not in their district, they might be able to help. So, they listen.

"It seems rude," Palacios said, "but it's just something you have to train your ear for."

As slow as shifts may be, they still run the gamut "and you have to adapt and adjust quickly," Palacios said.

"If it was the same stuff every day, it'd be pretty boring, and I don't think I'd like it."

[Last modified June 12, 2006, 07:49:13]