BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Telegraph Staff Writer
KEYSTONE HEIGHTS— Sheriff Michelle Cook said traffic tie-ups and reckless driving generate the largest number of complaints to her agency.
Cook made the comments during a Sheriff’s Net town hall meeting on April 27 at St. William Catholic Church in Keystone Heights.
“Right now, the biggest complaint that we get every year, every day is traffic,” she said. “Traffic is our biggest complaint.”
Cook added that the fact that traffic leads the number of complaints is a sign that her jurisdiction is safe, particularly when compared to the county’s northern neighbor.
“I’ll take that all day long because you go to the north, I’m thinking their biggest complaint’s not traffic; it’s people dying,” she said.
Cook said her deputies made 30,000 traffic stops last year and issued 24,000 citations.
“We are committed to staying on top of the traffic,” she said. “We are committed to making sure people are driving like they’re supposed to.”
The sheriff added that many of the citations deputies issue are warnings.
“I do allow deputies on the street to have the discretion of whether or not they give a paid citation or a warning,” she said. “They’re there; they know the infraction; they know the attitude of the driver.”
Cook said 32 people died on Clay County roads last year, and her agency made 227 DUI arrests.
Training
The sheriff also highlighted the amount of training her officers receive. She said the average Clay County deputy has five years of experience and has received 3,200 hours of training.
Cook said the amount of training her force undergoes is reflected in the low percentage of arrests in which force was used.
She said that of the 4,192 arrests, her deputies made last year, only 65 involved officers using force.
“That is an indicator of a well-disciplined, well-trained and professional organization,” Cook said. “Our deputies put a lot of people in jail, and very few times do we have to put our hands on them.”
Cook credited the sheriff’s office patrol leadership for its professional performance, including Director of Patrol and Community Affairs David Barnes, Chief of Patrol Baylor Alexander and Jeremy Clark, assistant chief of patrol south.
Priorities for 2023: relationships
Cook then talked about her agency’s priorities for this year, in which relationships top the list.
“That’s why we’re here tonight,” she told the Keystone Heights crowd. “We know that you cannot build relationships in crisis,” she said. Relationships are like a marriage. There are good days, and there are better days, but at the end of the day, you all have to know that you can pick up the phone and call us.”
Cook added that quality relationships build trust and that trust helps her agency fight misinformation.
“I know people put stuff on Facebook that’s not real,” she said. “If those things were really happening, you’d see me doing Facebook Live going: ‘It’s horrible, it’s terrible.’”
“So, I would just be mindful of what you hear: rumors and stuff,” she added, “and if you have a question, call us. We’ll answer them. We have no problem answering.”
Growth
Cook said her agency’s second priority is responding to the county’s growth.
“We can’t be everywhere, all the time,” she said of her personnel.
The sheriff also said that while Clay is the 25th largest county in the state, the county ranks 65th out of 67 counties in public safety funding.
She added that the county’s fiscally conservative population and policies put a premium on efficiency.
Cook said her agency is using technology to fill the gap of Clay’s growing population that is outpacing the number of deputies she is adding to the force. She added that the agency can add private security cameras to its own camera network.
“If you have a camera at your business or at a church,” she said, “we can tie (our system) into your camera, and through the cameras, we can provide an additional layer of security to your establishment.”
The sheriff said another way her office increases efficiency is through the nimble allocation of resources.
“And so, if Assistant Chief Clark or Chief Alexander or Director Barnes see something happening in the community, they don’t have to come ask me if they can move resources around,” she said. “They know that they can move resources around, and in our world, things happen very quickly. Part of managing and being effective in a growing community is allowing the leadership team to manage their teams and be flexible and responsive to the needs of the community.”
Crime
Cook said the agency’s third priority for 2023 is crime, which she acknowledged is the office’s core mission.
“Crime is why law enforcement exists,” she said. “The number one responsibility and duty of any government is to keep the community safe, and we take that job very seriously.”
Cook said that Clay County is a low-crime community.
“Our (crime) numbers are very low; our raw numbers are very low,” she said. “If you hear people say: ‘Well, this went up 50%,’ it probably went from four to six.”
Cook cautioned that although crime rates decreased in 2021 and 2022, she does not expect that trend to continue.
“The challenge we have right now is our community is growing very fast, and I think we have probably plateaued out,” she said.
The sheriff added that property crime is the major area that is plateauing out.
