[Carl in Tampa]

A portion of The Villages is located in Marion County, and as I understand it the primary law enforcement responsibility for that portion of The Villages belongs to the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

I have just received a copy of a letter from the State President of the Fraternal Order of Police addressed to the Marion County Commissioners, taking them to task for severely underfunding the Sheriff's Office. Among the detrimental effects of the underfunding is said to be a lengthy response to calls for police service. The letter says that the Sheriff states that response times range from 20 to 40 minutes after a call is received.

The office is also severely understaffed. The recommended ratio of law enforcement per 1,000 residents is 2.3 officers according to the
Bureau of Justice Statistics. Marion County has a ratio of just under 0.9 sworn officers per 1,000 residents.

On the Internet I located a statement by the Sheriff who described his office as in crisis, being understaffed, underpaid and ill equipped. He blamed the problems on the County Commission having severely cut the Sheriff's Office budget year after year.

I suspect that the problems of the Marion County Sheriff's Office are less evident here in The Villages since there are fewer occasions for conflict between neighbors than in the average neighborhood, but I would like to know what experience our residents have had.

Have you had to call the Marion County Sheriff's Office, and if so what was the response time? Were you satisfied with the service provided when the deputy arrived?

Thanks for any responses.

[red tail]

that's a letter from the union to the management and youre concerned?

[rdhdleo]

We live in the Marion County part of The Villages and our most recent experience was when our good friend and neighbors husband passed away at home. Paramedics came right away as did the police. The officer in charge stayed quite awhile and was of great help, especially with formalities and who she should call and helped to make the calls also. Excellent service and quick response in this instance.!

[Taltarzac725]

Marion County has a lot of very rural areas so I expect that the police and emergency response time varies quite a lot from location-to-location. The Villages Emergency Response Teams, however, would have a very good response time unless they are out another call. Then they would call from another Villages or a closer location.

There are a number of police stations here in the Villages spread around quite well.

We had an emergency ( bad scalp wound from fall) in Lynnhaven (Sumter County) in the Villages two weeks ago and the fire truck and ambulance were here within two minutes. They must not have been out on any other call and the response team from the closest Villages' fire station responded.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Marion County has a lot of very rural areas so I expect that the police and emergency response time varies quite a lot from location-to-location. The Villages Emergency Response Teams, however, would have a very good response time unless they are out another call. Then they would call from another Villages or a closer location.

There are a number of police stations here in the Villages spread around quite well.

We had an emergency ( bad scalp wound from fall) in Lynnhaven (Sumter County) in the Villages two weeks ago and the fire truck and ambulance were here within two minutes. They must not have been out on any other call and the response team from the closest Villages' fire station responded.

Where are the number of police stations? There is the Sumter county Sheriff's at 466 & Morse. And a two man station in Brownwood. And the Marion County Sheriff on CR42. Are there others in TV?

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by red tail

that's a letter from the union to the management and youre concerned?

Well, that's not quite accurate. Your premise is incorrect.

The Sheriff is management and the FOP represents labor. The County Commission has absolutely no authority over the Sheriff with regard to management/labor relations.

What you have here is the union representatives supporting the Sheriff in a controversy with the County Commission. Both the Sheriff and the FOP take the position that the Sheriff's Office is severely underfunded.

Although the County Commission has no authority over the Sheriff, it is the responsibility of the Commission to fund the operations of the Sheriff's Office with tax money. The recent poor economy has had many Commissions searching for ways to reduce spending. Sadly, the Marion County Commission has done this by slashing the funding of the Sheriff's Office, leaving the deputies underpaid, undertrained and poorly equipped.

The Sheriff has made an eloquent statement to that effect and he is supported by the FOP.

The last part of my second career I worked for a Florida Sheriff's Office that had a deputy to citizen ratio of about 1.65 per 100,000 and I know we considered our response times unacceptable. The stress on the deputies was tremendous, with waiting calls stacking up, pressure to rush through calls and missed meals.

The reason for my post was to get some idea of the impact of the underfunding on response times of deputies to that area of The Villages that lies in Marion County..... where I live.

The statement of the Sheriff with regard to the need of his office for better funding is at the bottom of the page which appears at the link posted below. His statement is in italics at the bottom of the page and is titled In Chris Blair�s Words.

Sheriff Chris Blair Wants You To Know The Truth About The Budget - Ocala Post | Ocala Post

[buggyone]

"The stress on the deputies was tremendous, with waiting calls stacking up, pressure to rush through calls and missed meals."

I hope they did not have to reduce their snack runs to the donut shop.

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Marion County has a lot of very rural areas so I expect that the police and emergency response time varies quite a lot from location-to-location. The Villages Emergency Response Teams, however, would have a very good response time unless they are out another call. Then they would call from another Villages or a closer location.

There are a number of police stations here in the Villages spread around quite well.

We had an emergency ( bad scalp wound from fall) in Lynnhaven (Sumter County) in the Villages two weeks ago and the fire truck and ambulance were here within two minutes. They must not have been out on any other call and the response team from the closest Villages' fire station responded.

It is reassuring that The Villages Emergency Response Teams have a very good response time. But that is for fire and medical emergencies. To the best of my knowledge they have no law enforcement authority. I know for sure that none of the Community Development Districts have any law enforcement authority because the District Counsel has written an opinion to that effect.

And you should take no comfort from the proximity of a police station near you. Those offices generally do not have an officer on duty at the station sitting there for the purpose of waiting to leave the station to go out on calls for service. The nearest officer who can actually respond to your call may be miles away and/or out of the car answering another call. That is why the ratio of officers to citizens is calculated to need to be at a certain level for adequate service.


.

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by buggyone

"The stress on the deputies was tremendous, with waiting calls stacking up, pressure to rush through calls and missed meals."

I hope they did not have to reduce their snack runs to the donut shop.

Cute. And I take it as a joke because of the reference to cops and donuts.

However, during hurricanes when many traffic lights lose power at major intersections it is not unusual to see a deputy out in the middle of the intersection working traffic for 12 to 14 hours at a stretch, with no relief.

Hopefully, the deputy packed something to eat before reporting to the assignment........... and a plastic jug or bottle for "relief" since there is no provision for bathroom breaks.

Back to the donut shop joke. It is commonplace for law enforcement officers to rush through fast food drive through lines to get something to wolf down while driving from one call to the next. There are two problems with this: it is not healthy food and it is unhealthy to eat in this manner.

Contrary to the stereotype, I've probably had only one glazed donut in the last ten years. I can tell you by personal experience, however, that Dunkin Donuts has great bagels and coffee.

[DougB]

Doesn't the sheriff's office document response time?

[njbchbum]

Originally Posted by buggyone

"The stress on the deputies was tremendous, with waiting calls stacking up, pressure to rush through calls and missed meals."

I hope they did not have to reduce their snack runs to the donut shop.

In a Pennsylvania town up near coal country [which town I will not specify] before the 911 emergency system was in place, a call to the police at lunch time to request response for a minor auto accident was met with a recording - 'I am out of the office at this time, but if you leave your name and number, I will contact you upon my return.'!!!! honest!

[Carl in Tampa]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

In a Pennsylvania town up near coal country [which town I will not specify] before the 911 emergency system was in place, a call to the police at lunch time to request response for a minor auto accident was met with a recording - 'I am out of the office at this time, but if you leave your name and number, I will contact you upon my return.'!!!! honest!

I have no doubt. Several years ago one of our vacationing dispatchers was killed in a motorcycle accident in another state. When word came to us I was told to call the Sheriff's Office up there and get more information. I reached an answering machine that said "the deputy" was out of the office and would check messages on his return. It was so long ago that I don't recall the state, but it was somewhere between Pennsylvania and Tennessee.

[redwitch]

Do remember that Marion County includes Ocala and many rural areas. From what I have heard and seen, the sheriff's response time in all three counties is pretty good (within 5 minutes most of the time) in TV.

When the woman shot her husband a few years ago in Marion County, a neighbor of theirs told me the police were there almost immediately -- probably less than a minute. I'm sure that if the issue is a theft the response time is going to be when they have time since there is no immediacy.

This is definitely one of those instances where the Morses make a difference -- they contribute heavily to all local police, sheriff and emergency departments. I'm sure this helps insure quick as possible response times.

[lance.boyle]

Thankfully we have not had any emergency calls but a couple of false alarms from the security system brought a Marion County Sherrie to our door within 5 minutes. Their local office is at the Mulberry Fire Station complex.

[graciegirl]

Someone who I know well had a car crash into her back yard in the middle of the night. She said she had Sumter County police, State Troopers and The Village watch, the fire department and the medical response team, immediately.

They told her in the emergency call to get out of the house, in case the house was hit and structurally unsafe. She said the place was swarming with law enforcement within a minute or two.

It turned out to be someone ( A son of a villager) leaving a restaurant at closing time about two in the morning who was traveling south on Morse, went through the median taking out several bushes and a tree, crossed the northbound lane, the golf cart path, a fence at the back of her yard and thankfully just missed a (large) palm tree in her back yard and the front of his car was resting against her bird cage. Something had broken the undercarriage so that when he attempted to back up and leave, he could not. And he could not get out of his car.

She said it was a good thing that all of the police folks came so quickly because she was so mad she might have done him further damage with her bare hands.

I believe her. BUT she is not quite five foot tall and not even plump. She doesn't look intimidating, but I wouldn't cross her.

She is reading this. I love you girl.

PS. The Villages repaired all of the damage to their property in less than a week.(The median, the bushes, the tree, the golf cart path, the fence) No one had to threaten them with a class action suit.

I like to get a few licks in, don'tcha know.