Pasco: Domestic violence unit worth keeping

A Times Editorial

Domestic violence unit worth keeping

Sheriff Bob White is trying to fix a system that isn't broken.

In his reorganization of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, White targeted a squad of domestic violence investigators for demise. It should not surprise the public. White campaigned last year on a promise to put more deputies on the street instead of in specialized units.

Putting more deputies on patrol is an admirable goal. But White has singled out a highly visible creation of his vanquished predecessor as a way to start to obtain it.

The Sheriff's Office started the domestic violence unit -- four deputies and a sergeant -- in 1995 amid much lobbying and criticism from the local chapter of the National Organization for Women. The system allowed advocates for victims to have direct contact with sheriff's detectives assigned specifically to domestic violence cases.

By all accounts, it worked well. The squad handled an increasing workload -- domestic violence calls roughly tripled to about 12,000 annually over the past six years -- and spurred the Sheriff's Office to obtain state funding for a KIDS unit, a group of deputies assigned specifically to children who are secondary victims of domestic violence. Incidentally, White's new initiative became public the same day the Florida House of Representatives approved a state budget plan that included $200,000 to keep the KIDS unit operating for another year.

White, though, is dissolving the original squad in favor of having at least one deputy per shift trained as a domestic violence investigator. Eventually, all deputies are to receive the training.

The sheriff should be commended for trying to boost domestic violence training for deputies, but his complete overhaul of the specialized unit is cause for concern. Without undivided attention, domestic violence cases face the prospect of being pushed down the priority list by other major crimes. And we're curious why having specialized officers assigned exclusively to secondary victims remains a priority, but the primary victims receive no such consideration.

The change is coming at the same time other agencies are focusing on domestic violence. By the end of June, for instance, the KIDS unit likely will have helped identify about 75 central Pasco children in need of social services who live too far from the counseling available at Sunrise and the Salvation Army domestic violence centers in Dade City and west Pasco, respectively.

Also, the private sector takeover of family protective services from the Department of Children and Families is expected to increase reporting of domestic violence because of the early involvement of abuse specialists.

White contends the move will allow the Sheriff's Office to go from four domestic violence investigators to 204, because each deputy will be prepared to handle domestic violence cases.

It's a troubling analogy for an agency that historically maintained it doesn't have enough law enforcement personnel to handle the county's growing public safety needs. Exactly how will patrols increase substantially if deputies must remain at crime scenes doing investigative work?

In explaining his decision, White referred to T.J. Hooker, the old police series on ABC, in which William Shatner's character of a uniformed sergeant tackled multiple cases. If the sheriff wants to get deployment ideas from 1980s television dramas, perhaps The Burning Bed would be more appropriate.