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Patrols are in the crosshairs

The sheriff's 10-member unit that monitors environmental lands could fall to budget cuts.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published June 19, 2007

Pinellas County sheriff's Deputy John Miller looks for illegal fishing and camping in the Four Lake Hammock area of the Brooker Creek Preserve.
	[Times photo: Jim Damaske]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Jim Damaske] Officials are wondering if they should cut the number of deputies that patrol in all of the counties preserves to save money.

As they figure out how state-mandated property tax cuts may affect law enforcement in Florida's most densely populated county, officials are considering reducing patrols on the county's wildest, most open acres.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office's 10-member environmental lands unit is one of several functions that sheriff's officials have suggested could be cut in response to the Legislature's decision to force counties to roll back property tax revenues.

Whether to cut the unit, which cost about $928, 000 in 2006 to put in the field, and to what extent, would be up to Pinellas County staff and commissioners.

County Administrator Steve Spratt said the county may be able to economize by relying on more deputies patrolling the general vicinity to respond to calls in the environmental lands such as the Brooker Creek and Weedon Island preserves.

"We will have to work it out with the sheriff, " he said Monday. "How do we redeploy to at least provide some level of services?"

The sheriff's Environmental Land Unit has partnered with county officials who manage environmental lands since 1994.

Later, other county environmental lands like the Weedon Island and Shell Key preserves were added to the unit's duties.

Now that arrangement may be put to the test.

In response to the Legislature's sweeping property tax cut, Pinellas County asked the Sheriff's Office to identify potential areas where service could be reduced.

Pinellas County officials have estimated the Legislature's plan would leave the county with $32-million less in 2008 than the $428-million in property taxes collected this year, representing a 7 percent cut.

In response, the Sheriff's Office, which has an annual budget of about $270-million, identified possible cuts in special details like drug education or policing environmental lands.

Environmental activist Lorraine Margeson of St. Petersburg is alarmed at the prospect. In an e-mail to county officials, she asked: "Do you REALLY want poachers to come back into Brooker Creek as they used to for HUNTING? Do you REALLY want Shell Key to become the ultimate party destination?"

A revised management plan for Shell Key is expected to be out for public comment by the end of June. It will attempt to take into account managing the party crowd that takes their boats or wades across to the island.

Pam Leasure, Pinellas County's land manager of environmental lands in South Pinellas, said the deputies enforce boating regulations as well as county ordinances on the island.

Open containers of alcohol are prohibited on the island, she said, so beer-toting partiers step into the water - technically off the island - when they see a deputy approach.

"They call it the Shell Key shuffle, " she said.

The deputies also enforce rules against dogs on the island during the season when birds nest there.

At Weedon Island Preserve, Leasure said parking, speeding and fishing violations keep deputies busy, as does patrolling the water around the island.

And at the Brooker Creek Preserve, Lisa Baltus, the county's land manager, said deputies patrol for poachers and those who cut fences and knock down gates to run their four-wheel drive vehicles through the preserve. The deputies also help visitors who stray from the trails and get lost.

"Mostly, " she said, "it's people cutting the fences and dumping yard debris or even garbage."

But they have gone after robbers hitting homes in East Lake Woodlands. And in late 2005, Cpl. Kent Johnson, who is party of the unit, responded to an incident in nearby Grey Oaks subdivision, aiding a fellow deputy who was being fired upon by a gun-toting assailant.

"Some of our own deputies forget at times how much work these people do, " sheriff's Sgt. Jim Bordner said. In 2006, the unit handled more than 500 incidents, making 15 arrests on felony charges and another 134 arrests on misdemeanor charges.

"That's a lot of activity when you add it all up for 10 people, " he said. "So the county's getting a lot for its money. We'll continue to provide the highest possible service we can, focusing on public safety."

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or 727 445-4170.

Fast Facts:

Environmental lands deputies

In 2006, the 10-person unit :

- Wrote 50 incident reports and handled 566 incidents that didn't generate a report.

- Issued 98 traffic citations and more than 300 warnings.

- Made 15 felony arrests and 134 misdemeanor arrests.

- Issued 321 ordinance violations and 741 warnings.

- Conducted 695 hours of special details like stake-outs.

- Had 11, 400 contacts with citizens, like giving directions.

- Boarded 3, 100 vessels.

Source: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office

[Last modified June 18, 2007, 22:31:45]