January 27, 2017

Coffee brings cops, community together in DeLeon Springs

By Erika Webb, The West Volusia Beacon
Original article HERE

The Porter House overflowed with residents and members of law enforcement Jan 23, for “Coffee With a Cop.”

The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office began hosting “Coffee With a Cop” events in 2014. Monday’s was the first such under the new administration.

Sheriff Mike Chitwood arrived to loud applause.

Capt. Dave Brannon, Detectives Garey MacDowell, Roy Galarza and Gerald Johnson, Lts. George Maddox and James Day, VCSO office assistant Marge Clausen and Deputy Billy Leven also were on hand to answer questions and talk to members of the community about how to stay safe and comfortable in their neighborhoods.

Several volunteer members of the Sheriff Office’s Citizen Observer Program also attended, and Brannon emphasized the enormous value of the COP to the agency.

Tables in the historic Porter House — home of the DeLeon Springs Community Association — were laid with coffee and other refreshments. After assuring attendees that he was personally checking the cookies for poison, Sheriff Chitwood told on himself.

“A deputy wrote me a speeding ticket Friday,” Chitwood said. “It was a first in my career.”

He said he was driving and was on the phone, using a headset, when he saw a deputy approaching his vehicle, and he glanced at his speedometer.

“I can see I’m doing 70 in a 55 and thought, ‘This isn’t going to be pleasurable,’” Chitwood said.

The two men stopped their vehicles and spoke, but the deputy did not issue the sheriff a ticket.

After they parted, Chitwood called the sergeant and arranged to meet again.

“I told him to issue a ticket,” the sheriff said. “He said, ‘I’m not going to do that. I like working here.’”

But his boss insisted.

“I have to send a message,” Chitwood said, “that if I’m going to hold other people accountable, I have to hold myself accountable.”

Rather than attend traffic school, the busy sheriff has opted to pay the fine. He’s been pressed for time since being sworn in in early January.

“It’s been the fastest 22 days of my life,” he said.

Under his command, he said, the department will be “heavily engaged” with the Police Athletic League.

“We will gear toward education, particularly reading,” Chitwood said. “A lot of our young folks that are locked up today can’t read.”

He also will work to get the Sheriff’s Office more resources, including people and technology.

Citing an example of an effective tool already being employed, the sheriff mentioned Volusia’s Real-Time Crime Center.

As chief of the Daytona Beach Police Department for a decade, Chitwood started a Real-Time Crime Center there in 2014.

Last year, the VCSO, under Sheriff Ben Johnson, started the Volusia County Crime Center.

There are license-plate readers and surveillance and security cameras across the county that feed into the Volusia County Crime Center for use during active calls.

“Basically, we’ve invited the community to hook us into their camera systems so we can access their video feed if something happens,” Sheriff’s Office spokesman Andrew Gant said.

He said the connections are voluntary, and added that the VCSO does not monitor private video feeds, but accesses them only when necessary to solve a crime.

“That means we can see things unfolding in real time, which is, A, safer for responding deputies and police, and, B, extremely helpful in identifying and tracking down suspects faster than ever before,” Gant said.

Also, VCSO’s helicopter, Air One, has been equipped with state-of-the-art camera equipment that allows airborne personnel to see events happening on the ground “incredibly clearly,” day or night.

“And we’re deploying tools that allow us to watch that Air One video feed live from the ground, while a call is in progress,” Gant said. “You can imagine how helpful that will be when we’re searching for someone.”

Additionally, all officers have been equipped with body cameras.

At the coffee in DeLeon Springs, Sheriff Chitwood told attendees that 98 percent of crimes are solved “because people in the community pick up the phone and call.”

“It’s not fingerprinting or any of that fancy stuff you see on TV,” he said.

DeLeon Springs residents expressed concerns about noisy neighbors and speeding motorists; they were urged to call the Sheriff’s Office to report all suspicious or nuisance activity.

“We can’t solve all the ills of society,” Capt. Brannon said. “We’re trying to be a lot of places with a few people.”

Detective MacDowell said responding to an obnoxious-noise complaint can lead officers to discover more serious crimes being committed.

“Trust your gut,” Detective Johnson said. “If you see somebody in the neighborhood that looks suspicious, it’s probably suspicious. Call it in. Get a tag number.”

One attendee asked whether crime throughout the county is on the wane.

“Since the new sheriff took over, it’s been pretty low,” Capt. Brannon said, chuckling.

Another asked about drug-related crimes.

“Drugs are always going to be a problem,” Deputy Leven said. “We try to be as many places as possible but, again, with limited resources.”

Across the VCSO’s jurisdiction — which includes the unincorporated area of Volusia County, along with the cities of Deltona, DeBary, Oak Hill and Pierson — crime has been on the decline for more than six years, MacDowell said.

In 2015, the crime rate dropped by 4.9 percent, reaching the lowest level in more than 30 years, and outpacing the state’s decline by nearly 2 percent, according to the VCSO, based on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s annual Uniform Crime Report.

“The biggest issue now is car breaks,” MacDowell said, adding that those crimes primarily are the work of juveniles.

Roy Brantley, of Orange City, has lived in Volusia County for 24 years.

He said he has watched quiet West Volusia cities and towns grow into a contiguous conglomeration of traffic and buildings, creating a need for more VCSO personnel and higher wages for officers.

The Sheriff’s Office is authorized for 466 sworn positions and 479 civilian positions.

“However, the actual number of those positions that are currently filled is somewhat less,” spokesman Gant said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Volusia County’s population was just less than 517,900 in 2015.

“Sheriff Chitwood is running into opposition by the County Council as well as the county manager,” Brantley said. “They need resources and technology. It’s gonna take us to have the guts to make sure those guys pay attention.”