A new kind of officer will be revisiting Jacksonville’s streets soon to handle traffic crashes, abandoned vehicles and traffic control, and they will be packing a notebook and pen vs. a pistol.
When the city’s 22 community service officers begin their jobs after eight weeks of field training, they will mark the return of a “force multiplier” that was cut from the city budget in 2012, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
The civilian officers graduated Friday night at Florida State College at Jacksonville’s Kent Campus after three months of police academy training. That will be followed by field work with sworn officers before hitting the streets solo in their bright-yellow uniform shirts, said Michelle Cook, director of personnel and professional standards for the Sheriff’s Office.
“We split the class up to make sure there is good training, and it is easier to train a smaller group,” Cook said. “We are thrilled that they are joining us. They are great for the agency and community. They take on the tasks that allow the officers to go out and do proactive police work. They free up the sworn officers so they can stay on their beat.”
The community service officer program debuted in 2005 as a way to handle more mundane police calls like traffic control, stalled motorists, minor wrecks and parking tickets and leave sworn officers to handle more crime-related issues. The CSOs, as they’re often called, don’t carry guns or Tasers and cannot detain suspects, pull vehicles over or investigate crimes.
Sheriff’s Office records showed that the first 44 community service officers handled 24,456 calls in their first year and an average 30,000 annually after that. But the program was killed in 2012 as part of sweeping budget cuts instituted by then-Mayor Alvin Brown, with all 63 community service officers laid off. Then when Jacksonville’s 2016 budget was approved last summer, it included money to hire 40 new community service officers, as well as 40 new sworn police officers who graduated March 17th.
Cook said the rest of the 40 community service officers in the 2016 budget will begin their academy training May 1. While the department now has 1,644 sworn officers from the sheriff on down, almost 300 new police and corrections officers as well as community service officers will be hired in the next 2 1/2 years to replace those who retire or move. Cook said the hope is more community service officers will be hired as some of them transition into corrections or police positions.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/jacksonville-sheriffs-offices-new-csos-graduate-to-return-to-the-street-after-4-year-absence/102361700I hope that these 'community service officers' unlike the other ones under the old sheriff Rutherford. Don't get into other duties that are not part of their training.
IMO community service officers should just help out in traffic control, stalled motorists, minor wreaks and parking tickets, like we the "Citizens of Jacksonville" are being told.
