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Highlands Today

Sheriff Benton Reviews Strategic Plan

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By Joe  Seelig | Highlands Today

Published: September 23, 2007

SEBRING — To stay on course, Highlands County Sheriff Susan Benton held a four-hour strategic planning session Friday at the jury assembly room in the courthouse.

The idea was to review the sheriff's existing three year strategic plan for 2006 to 2009, and to extend it out one more year to 2010.

Benton's theme is: "Vision without action is only a dream, (but) vision with action can change the world."

Crime statistics for most major crimes have been dropping, not just in Highlands County, but as a national trend, Benton said.

But projections show a steady increase in daily jail population.

"What's interesting is as crime stats were going down, jail beds were going up," Benton said, addressing about 35 men and women representing law enforcement, the Department of Children and Families, Tri-County Human Services, Inc., the media and the private sector.

The daily need for jail beds rose 128.6 percent, from 224 in 1994 to 512 in 2007.

On Friday the jail was at near capacity, said Lisa McGehee, the sheriff's chief of staff.

"As you can see, we'll have more people in the jails than we'll have on the street," Benton said, half joking.

Plans must address attempts to reduce crime through education such as continued youth programs like D.A.R.E., as well as reduce recidivism among inmates with programs such as JASA, a male and female drug treatment program, she said.

It's the misdemeanor crimes that are really on the rise, as well as people being jailed for violation of probation.

Since 1995 the county's population has increased about 26.7 percent, from 77,914 to 98,703 in 2007. The unincorporated area has shown an even greater increase, 30.4 percent, increasing from 59,504 to 77,618 people in 2007.

With a historical growth rate of about 2.7 percent per year, the county is expected to have more than 106,000 people by 2010 and 166,426 in 2026, according to a growth chart provided in the meeting.

However, calls for service jumped 401.5 percent since 1994, from 31,830 to 159,622 in 2006.

With the future growth rate Benton foresees an increased need for dispatchers from 21 for 2005-2006, to 39 dispatchers by 2010.

Consultant James D. Sewell, retired from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, acted as moderator.

Those attending traded ideas on how to make the sheriff's office more responsive to the needs of the residents and to create a better, safer community.

"The goal is to get ahead of the power curve and start preventing crime," Sewell said.

One of the ideas being developed is to have a closer working relationship between the Highlands County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Children and Families.

It was added as a strategy No. 5 to Goal No. 1, which is to: Create safer neighborhoods by reducing criminal activity and conditions that foster crime and fear within the community."

Strategy No. 5 reads: "To implement an integrated and multidisciplinary approach to combat and prevent abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence within Highlands County's families."

Resident Ruth Handley asked, "How soon is this little marriage going to happen."

It hasn't got a name yet and is in its infancy.

After the session, Benton explained in greater detail.

"We will be co-locating and housing a unit of detectives with DCF to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of children and adults; coupled with followup investigations on domestic violence cases," Benton said. "We will use existing infrastructure. Our detectives will be at the Childrens Advocacy Center with a unit of DCF with our victims advocates and all of the child protection team, mental health providers and the like."

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