The four men running for election to head the Orange County Sheriff’s Office have at least one thing in common: they all believe more deputies on the street are needed. This necessity was echoed recently at OCSO’s East Orlando substation, where they are stretched very thin across Sector Two, the largest in the entire county. Zone makeup, which distributes deputies across the county, was determined in the mid-70’s, and has not kept up with the current explosion of growth, especially in our areas.

At the beginning of the year, current Sheriff Kevin Beary announced he would not seek a fifth term. The office says it has a budget over $140 million and more than 2,400 employees. Another substation is planned to be built near the intersection of Lake Underhill Road and Rouse Road by the summer of 2009.

The two Republicans vying for the top job are John Tegg, police chief in Edgewood, and Bill Armstrong, a retired Captain with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office. The Democrats are Jerry Demings, former Orlando Police Chief and former Orange County Public Safety Director, and Malone Stewart, former Orange County Undersheriff.

Insight interviewed all four in regards to their plans for the county if elected, and asked each what they would specifically do in the east and southeast regions. Here are the highlights of our discussions:

Candidate John Tegg - (R)John Tegg, whose first assignment as a new deputy in 1976 was patrolling the east side, says he’ll effect immediate change by creating new zones, what he calls patrol villages. The subdivisions of Hunter’s Creek and Avalon Park will be test cases for this concept, with a patrol commander who acts for the area on his/her own, similar to a chief. He’d like to staff it for all three shifts, 24 hours per day. Tegg would also require all deputies to meet two new residents and two new businesses on their beat per day, and know them by name so as to set up an “intimate relationship between the public and their police force.”

Tegg, like all the candidates, knows OSCO is going into a tight budgetary year, and he says instead of just hiring new deputies, he’ll backfill the lower-paid office jobs with civilians, thus freeing up veterans to get back out on the street. “Mayor Rich Crotty and Bill Donegan [OC Property Appraiser] have assured me the Sheriff’s Office budget will not be altered, so even if nothing in the budget goes up, I think we’ll have enough to do it,” explains Tegg. He’d also backfill administration jobs with young people just out of foster care, and mentor them while they work and attend school, with the added benefit of keeping them out of trouble.

His other ideas center on communication techniques. Tegg would mirror a program he’s run in Edgewood where the public is given the cell phone number of on-duty patrols, allowing them to report real time information and quickening the response to a crime or emergency. “It goes crazy at first, but we’ve seen it even out,” as the public understands what it’s for, he relates. In addition, he’d give private security officers, such as those on I-drive, a service channel on OCSO’s radio system, after their employers send them to a one-week training course.

Candidate Jerry Demings - (D)Former Orlando Police Chief and Orange County Public Safety Director Jerry Demings gets some notoriety from his wife, recently named Orlando Police Chief Val Demings. Demings says, countywide, he will redeploy resources where crime is occurring, increase visibility of police in neighborhoods but also increase covert patrols, employ technology to do better analysis to predict where crime patterns will occur, and monitor movements of criminals on probation via GPS to overlay with those emerging crime patterns. In addition, he would work more with HOAs, Neighborhood Watch and Citizens On Patrol (COPs) groups to leverage all resources to combat crime. Lastly, he feels collaboration with local non-profits, civic organizations, and churches is essential to increase the number of youth programs offered to prevent or curb criminal activity. “In the last five years, the number of children charged as adults has doubled,” Demings reports.

In the Southeast Quadrant in particular, he sees an increase in the number of gangs developing. Explaining that working proactively with youth is one of his core principals, he explains he would partner with schools and others to identify those getting involved. “If you offer alternatives, and keep them tired, that’s an anticrime program.” Similarly, he’s concerned with the increase in homelessness in the area and the petty crimes they tend to commit. He wants to collaborate with organizations like Coalition For The Homeless to respond to the needs of this community.

When asked for specifics of what he’d do in East and Southeast Orlando in terms of redistributing services, Demings replies, “It’s a little premature to identify locations now.” However, he adds he worked with developers of Avalon Park to plan crime prevention through environmental design. In addition, he harkens back to the traffic death of Orlando Police Officer Tanja King, for whom a main Avalon Park street and playground are named. “I knew Tanja; I hired her. Her death was one of the most touching moments of my career.”

Bill Armstrong’s campaign is dominated by a focus on gang-related issues. “The gang problem has been downplayed for
Candidate Bill Armstrong - (R)too long by OCSO and OPD, frankly,” he says, adding the east side is a particular focal point. Aside from the dangers to youth from being in a gang, he lists the branch-off crimes that gangs perpetrate: graffiti, home invasions, convenience store and ATM robberies, and bank robberies. “I will create a significant training block for every deputy out there, to identify graffiti and gang members. I want every one to be a gang expert.” Armstrong says this will work better than relying solely on the ten to twelve deputies in the county’s specialized gang unit, but would not replace this unit.

Reprioritizing resources using existing positions is also in Armstrong’s plan. “In the first 60 days, I’ll add 50 deputies on the street. In addition, within six to eight months, I’ll put 120 more on the street in new positions that are currently allocated within the existing budget.” In doing so, he’ll fast-track experienced officers from other agencies so as not to waste time on repetitive basic training. Like the other candidates, he’ll realign zones, but also talks of cross-swearing deputies from other counties to share resources in an emergency. He currently works in the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office as a pilot.

Armstrong envisions at least 30 of those 170 additional deputies would be assigned to Sector Two, housed in a new service center smack dab in the middle. That’s in addition to the gang investigators and tactical squads he’s planning to add. It’s all in the name of response time to emergencies. “The ideal is not more than three minutes, but I daresay it is right now close to five or six minutes [in east Orange County].”

He’ll also organize a number of zones’ HOAs, Neighborhood Watch and COPs programs under what he calls Community Coalitions, the way it was done when he was in Seminole County. A deputy in charge of the zone would be held accountable for crimes in their area, like a zone chief of police.

Candidate Malone Stewart - (D)Malone Stewart is the lone candidate who lives in East Orlando; since 2005, he’s resided in Eastwood with his wife, a kindergarten teacher at Sunrise Elementary. He’s also the only one who’s actually held the job they’re all seeking. During nine years as Undersheriff, he substituted when the Sheriff was out of town, most notably on 9/11. In addition, he was the acting Sheriff for a year and a half before the current one was elected.

Stewart would put all high crime areas under surveillance with correction officers seven days a week in unmarked vans so they can move in on crime. “You’ve got to be proactive and be there when crime occurs. Response time is key; in one minute a crime can occur, so you have to be one minute away.”

He saw an increase in crime while he was a cop during the recession of the ‘70s, and thinks he sees the warning signs again now. To put more cops on the street, Stewart will look to the folks with government clearances reportedly being laid off from NASA. As to the budget constraints, “In a recession, we’ve got to work harder and smarter with less.”

He offers a growth equation to reassess the number of deputies on patrol in burgeoning areas. “If X number of people move into an area, they get X number of deputies.”

The spike in juvenile crime has convinced him of the need for a “Consequence Center,” similar to one in Seminole County, to deal with underage violent criminals when they first offend, and others after a second charge. Currently, if a juvenile is arrested, he/she spends 21 days in a detention center and is then released. A second violation garners only 14 more days in jail. Stewart’s Consequence Center, a day program, would monitor these kids when they go back home. He says Seminole’s has an 82% success rate, and if he has to fund it with private donations, he will. “Where there’s a void, you’ve got to step up and fill it.”

The primary election for the Sheriff’s race is slated for August 26, when the field will be narrowed to two candidates. Then, in the general election on November 4, a new Sheriff will be elected. Learn More About Each Candidate:

www.malonestewart.com

www.electbillarmstrong.org

www.jerrydemingsforsheriff.com

www.johnteggforsheriff.com

Sara Au - Editor, Insight Magazine

This article written by Insight Magazine Editor, Sara Au.  Sara can be reached for comment at sara@insightmg.com.