Policing policy

With a budget nearing $30 million, the Sarasota Police Department represents nearly half of the city’s general fund expenditures. Its per capita staffing levels are healthier than many surrounding municipalities of a similar size, and the city recently approved the addition of three additional officers.

And, yet, the department is still working to come to terms with the resources available to it, adjusting to the new normal after coming down from an all-time high. Like all arms of city government, the SPD shrunk after reaching peak levels in 2007. At that time, the department had a staff of 204 sworn officers; today, that number is 158.

The number of eliminated positions fails to capture the context of from where those losses came. Capt. Pat Robinson, currently serving as the interim deputy chief, explained that the first jobs to go were command level and specialist positions. Units geared toward proactive enforcement and specific tasks, such as a team focusing on public housing, were eliminated, merged or reduced in size.

As a result, officers doing regular patrol now handle the brunt of the work once undertaken by specialized units.

“People who are working are working harder with less resources,” Robinson said.

Robinson, who oversees the department’s patrol unit, says that means the average officer is forced to deal with a wider variety of challenges than he did a decade earlier. Officers that may have focused primarily on traffic violations and criminal infractions are being taught to look at a bigger picture.

For example, dealing with recent cases involving the homeless requires officers to have a deeper understanding of the issue.

“You have to know the hot button problems a lot of these issues create legally and sociologically,” Robinson said.

The problem has taken its toll on the city, as well. In December, the City Commission accepted nearly $350,000 in federal grant funding to hire three additional officers for fiscal years 2015-2017, obligating the city to spend an additional $766,912 over four years. Still, City Manager Tom Barwin said the department was racking up expenses anyway as it attempted to provide the same level of service with fewer officers.

“It’ll give the chief and her department additional manpower flexibility,” Barwin said regarding the additional positions. “We’re spending a considerable amount of money on overtime right now.”

Robinson doesn’t pretend to be satisfied with the status quo, pointing to a 2008 International Association of Chiefs of Police study that pegs the ideal staffing level for the department at 176 sworn officers. Still, he and the rest of the Sarasota Police Department realize that they have to be able to operate more efficiently than they did when the department was larger.

That’s been a leading goal for Chief Bernadette DiPino since she joined the force in 2013. In addition to hiring a crime analyst, who helps deploy officers more strategically based on data, she believes her focus on community-based policing — fostering a better relationship with officers and the people who live in the area they patrol — can help police operate more effectively. Encouraging greater communication between the two groups makes the police more aware of the needs of the community they serve, Robinson said.

“The officers don’t live in the neighborhoods in which they are out and about a lot of times,” Robinson said. “If citizens aren’t calling, we might be deploying resources where we feel the problem exists, but the community might feel the problem is somewhere else.”

Robinson said that active volunteer and neighborhood watch programs have helped fill in some gaps left by staff reductions. With officers spread thinner, the department is depending on residents to inform the department of issues popping up in their neighborhood.

Still, Robinson said, recruiting enthusiastic volunteers and assigning more work to patrol officers can’t solve all of the problems. Currently, the department is often working reactively. Although tactical teams such as the Street Crimes unit are designed to more aggressively target specific issues as they arise, they’re both smaller and in higher demand than they were in the past.

Robinson explained that it’s difficult for patrol officers to go about their daily routine within the city’s 10 zones while also paying particularly close attention to pressing issues for residents in specific neighborhoods. For example, the zone containing Gillespie Park, where recent concerns have arisen surrounding illicit activity in the park, stretches from Fruitville to 17th street, and from U.S. 301 to the bay.

The patrol zones are manned 24 hours a day, but only so much focus can be dedicated to one target, Robinson said. Often, where attention is directed is a zero-sum game.

Officer Helios Blanco has worked for the SPD for 12 years. He said taking steps as simple as filling out his routine paperwork while parked in an area that needs more eyes on it has helped the department overcome the challenges it’s facing, though the equilibrium for patrol officers is constantly shifting.

“You can’t really plan it,” Blanco said. “Every day is different. I learned in the Marines: You have to adapt and overcome.”

How he approaches the changes is noticeably different from Robinson — the first effect of staff reductions that comes to mind is the time it takes for other officers to respond to calls for backup. Whether it’s concerns about how life-and-death situations may be handled or just a heavier daily workload, the different environment has definitely been noticeable for officers.

“There are still calls for service no matter how many officers you have,” Blanco said.

If the city decides to dedicate additional resources to the police department as the economic situation continues to stabilize, Robinson indicated they’d look to add detective and street crimes personnel. Those officers can work to address issues such as drug trafficking in a way that uniformed officers simply can’t, he said.

“You need that proactive element you can put into an undercover capacity,” Robinson said.

While the department has drawn some criticism from city officials for its efficacy, Robinson isn’t blaming the numbers. Instead, the department is continuing to pursue these paths toward improved efficiency as it gets accustomed to a leaner force.

“There is a perception of Sarasota being a very safe, vibrant community,” Robinson said. “The SPD will do everything within its resources to maintain that feeling.”

LEADING THE PACK
Here’s a look at how similarly sized Florida municipalities stacked up to Sarasota in officers and crime rate per 1,000 citizens in 2013:

Since then, the city has reduced the number of sworn SPD officers by another 17 positions. In the past, Chief Bernadette DiPino has been critical of using the FBI crime data as a yardstick for evaluating the department.

Capt. Pat Robinson agreed that the picture those numbers paint is incomplete, in particular highlighting Sarasota’s daytime population spike as a factor that made an apples-to-apples comparison difficult.
“Every city has its own population, its own issues, its own layout,” Robinson said.

Sources: Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation

BY THE NUMBERS
204 - Sworn SPD officers in 2007

158  - Sworn SPD officers in 2014

176 - Recommended staffing levels for SPD in a 2008 report

78,104 - SPD calls for service in 2007

72,407 - SPD calls for service in 2014

10 - SPD patrol zones within the city