- April 23, 2024
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Crime is down 52% since 2017 in Flagler County and calls for service are up, Sheriff Rick Staly said in his annual Addressing Crime Together meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn in Palm Coast on April 14.
"I believe that an engaged community and an informed community is a safer community, and how we do that is through guardianship policing. ... We police with the community, instead of policing the community."
— RICK STALY, Flagler County sheriff
Staly's address this year comes as the Flagler County Sheriff's Office prepares to move into its new headquarters building in Bunnell after almost five years of administrative homelessness: The agency's staff has been divided between the county courthouse and an administrative building at the county jail ever since the FCSO permanently evacuated its former headquarters on State Road 100 in 2018 over mold concerns.
Staly focused on the agency's new acquisitions — not only the planned opening of the new headquarters this winter, but also the agency's new, $400,000 mobile command center and its first dedicated police boat — and the necessity of expanding to keep up with the county's population growth.
"Growth is going to impact, and cause strains," Staly said. "So that's why we work with the Board of County Commissioners and the city of Palm Coast, because I don't want us to lose our gains. Because if you lose the gains in crime reduction, you'll never get it back."
He praised the County Commission and City Council for funding additional deputy positions.
"Look at all those cities around the country that defunded the police when that was a cool thing to do," Staly said. "And I'm proud to say that our County Commission and our city councils, they did the opposite. They added more deputy sheriffs; they gave the funding for this technology. ... We're still not exactly where we need to be with the growth that's occurring, but I'm confident that our elected bodies will continue to support."
A larger population means more calls for service: The agency projects that it will have handled 117,000 by the end of the year.
More people in the county also means more people on the roads.
"I can tell you that the trend of people not knowing how to drive in Flagler County continues," Staly said. "Crashes are up. ... If you travel any of our major roadways — like I-95, Palm Coast Parkway, State Road 100 — I don't have to tell you that traffic is getting worse."
The Sheriff's Office is responding by adding three more motorcycle patrol deputies, bringing that unit to a total of 13, he said.
Staly said that the agency's use of what he called "intelligence-led policing" and technology such as traffic cameras and license plate readers has helped increase the agency's "clearance rate" — the percentage of crimes that are solved — to 34%.
"You may say that sounds pretty low. That's actually a very good rate when you compare us to agencies across the state and across the country," Staly said. "... So how did we achieve this? Because we're doing things differently."
The agency conducts regular probation checks for juvenile offenders, he said, and, when state prisoners are released into the community, "We knock on the door and say, 'Welcome to Flagler County. How can we help you be successful so that you don't go back to a state prison facility?"
If they want the agency's help, Staly said, they'll get it, but the welcome also ensures that prison releasees know that deputies are aware of their presence.
The agency's Real Time Crime Center uses a network of traffic cameras and plate readers.
"We use license plate recognition readers throughout the county. Obviously we don't disclose where they are, but I promise you that driving here tonight,
you probably went past some LPRs," Staly said.
The system automatically reads plates and compares them to a national database of stolen tags or cars or to known tags numbers of fugitives or people whose drivers license has been suspended.
"We get so many hits we have to triage it and focus on the serious offenders," Staly said.
Traffic cameras help deputies track suspects and identify areas with crime, so that the agency can increase its presence there, Staly said.
"So instead of just deputies driving around aimlessly, we're focusing them into the problem areas," he said.
Although overall property crime is down 2.1%, Staly said, vehicle thefts are up, from four by this time last year to 13 this year. In 42% of those cases, the victim left their keys in the unlocked car, and in another 40%, the victim had loaned the car to someone who didn't bring it back.
Commercial burglaries are all up, from one by this time last year to four this year.
Most of the people arrested for those crimes aren't local. "They're coming from Jacksonville, Daytona," Staly said.
In terms of violent crime, murders are down — there have been none so far this year — aggravated assaults are down 8%, fondling is up 8%, and robberies are up 12%.
"And usually, that's a drug ripoff," Staly said. "It's rare that it would be ... somebody walking into a 7-Eleven and robbing it. I can't remember the last time we had that."
If the current construction timeline for the new Sheriff's Operations Center off Commerce Parkway near the Wendy's restaurant and the county's Government Services Complex stays on track, Staly said, the FCSO will be moving there in October or November .
"It's a 51,000-square-foot, high-tech, very professional building," Staly said.
He gave an example: The new headquarters will contain a "Faraday room," an electronically secure space where confiscated devices can be held without worry that someone could hack them and erase the contents.
"When we seize a cell phone or iPad or laptop, it goes into this room, and no dirtbags sitting in a parking lot or Commerce [Parkway] can sit there and try to penetrate into that to erase anything," Staly said. "We're the only agency in the four counties that has a Faraday room. We don't have it yet, but it's coming."
The new building, Staly said, "will last for many, many, many decades."
The Sheriff's Office also just took delivery of its first vessel created specifically for policing — a 25-foot 2022 Boston Whaler Justice 250 with twin 225 horsepower engines.
"These are expensive, but my feeling is, if you buy the right thing made for the job, it's going to last decades, instead of eight years and then you've got to replace it," Staly said.
The boat will let deputies head out into the Atlantic Ocean, even in bad weather, and replaces a 1999 boat that sits low in the water and isn't suitable for ocean use on anything but a calm day.
"And I will assure you that when emergencies happen, it's usually not a nice calm day," Staly sad.
Deputies will also soon have a new mobile command center, which is now being constructed in Sanford and will replace the FCSO's 1999 Winnebago RV.
"It's expensive, but it's like a fire truck," Staly said. "If you build it for what you want to use it for, it'll last for decades, and that's what this vehicle will do."
Staly closed his address with an appeal to community members to take commonsense steps to prevent crime.
"Lock it up. Don't leave keys in [your car]; prevent yourself from becoming a victim," he said. " Lock up your bicycle. Remove valuables from in view inside your car. ... Please take your guns inside. Don't leave them in the car; put stuff in the trunk. And keep your garage doors closed, even when you're home, unless you're sitting in the garage. Because those all become crimes of opportunity."
