East County zone on sheriff's radar

MANATEE COUNTY — When Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube reflects on the last three years and the considers the years ahead, he thinks of these numbers: 

The countywide population is 261,000. His goal is 2.2 deputies per 1,000 residents — the national average, according to FBI statistics.

For the Sheriff’s Office, meeting that goal equates to a need for 78 additional deputies.

All those numbers add up toward one goal — improving community safety and response times.

Steube hopes the commission will provide him with the funding he seeks — four corrections and eight more patrol deputies for the new fiscal year — but are not currently included in the budget presented. (See budget breakdown sidebar).

But his long-term goal is to add a fourth patrol district — one that would focus on the East County area, breaking up the expansive Cops North unit — which covers virtually all Manatee County territory north of the Manatee River and east of Interstate 75, from Palmetto to Duette to Parrish to Myakka.

“Lakewood Ranch would be one east (district),” Steube said. “That’s what I want to do if I get more people. There are more square miles (in the north district). With each mile, response time increases.”

The sheriff’s office has reduced crime statistics by 6% in 2014 (and 3% and 16% for 2013 and 2012, respectively), based on the uniform crime report the sheriff’s office submits to the Federal Bureau of Investigation through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Stuebe says the numbers in his head are critical for keeping those figures down. 

Already, rates for violent crime — robberies, rape and aggravated assault, for example — are up 27% from January to June. (When combined with property crimes and other non-violent offenses are still down by about 3%).

“The big challenge is we’re our own worst enemy,” Steube said. “I say I need more people, but then (the Manatee County commissioners) say, ‘You’ve reduced crime (without them).’”

The commission will make its last round of funding decisions at a July 30 budget meeting, including setting the millage rate, before formally adopting the 2015-16 budget in September.

At meetings, commissioners have not specified measures they could take to address the situation. However, District 5 Commissioner Vanessa Baugh said she has been combing through the budget during the commission’s summer break to determine whether the county can reallocate dollars and provide funding for deputies. But she said she will not support an increase in millage, as a way to generate revenue for the proposal.

“We need to learn to living within our means,” she said. “With the population in Manatee rising and the tourists coming to the area, obviously all the constitutional officers are looking for was to render the increase in services. The sheriff is no different. It’s important the sheriff have everything he needs to make sure we have good security. It affects not only the quality of life but also economic development. We need to keep crime low. “

The commission has found ways to fund a few new positions in past years — it provided funding for four corrections officers at the jail in each of the last two years — but Steube said he still needs more corrections and patrol deputies. He tried to secure a grant for eight deputies last year — and will try again — but the effort failed.

Steube maintains he needs the extra manpower to keep crime rates low. Sheriff’s deputies spend the bulk of their time answering 975 calls, on average, per day for service. That fact, he said, leaves them little time to patrol neighborhoods, as the should. They also don’t have enough resources to do other preventative measures without dipping into overtime.

 “That’s huge,” Steube said. “If I have what I believe is the proper amount of deputies patrol, we can do ‘preventable’ patrols. Give me the people I need to keep your community safe and that’s one of the biggest challenges.”

Ideally, Steube wants funding for 12 more deputies, but if he doesn’t get them, he hopes commissioners will at least commit to adding a certain number of officers each year — any number will do.

“It’d be great to start getting some people so we can move toward getting a fourth patrol unit,” he said.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].