John Rutherford spent 28 years patrolling the streets of Jacksonville as a member of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Today, he’s still patrolling the streets, this time in an unmarked car as our city’s sheriff. He sat down this week with the editorial staff at Bailey Publishing and talked about everything from tasers in school to Downtown safety to his re-election bid.
Question: Is there more crime now or is there more media reporting that crime?
Answer: There’s a lot more media and that’s why we hear about a lot more crime. Violent crime is down from last year and property crime is also down. Murder is up over last year; we are off to a horrific year (35 through Thursday). This year has been particularly bad starting off. Where we end up, I don’t know yet. No one wanted to celebrate when we went from 104 murders in 2004 to 91 last year — and 91 is still way too many. Overall, crime is down.
Q: Is the police force growing to match the area’s growth?
A: I have talked to the mayor’s office and the City Council’s Government Operations, Oversight & Human Services committee about this. This year we need to look at filling our vacancies and create a longterm staffing plan. We can’t afford to get behind the growth curve. It takes 11-and-half months to get an officer from candidate into the car. That’s a long time and it’s easy to get behind the curve.
Q: Why are there so many homicides? What do the statistics show so far this year?
A: Violent crime and property crime are down this year, but murders are up. We are off to a horrific start. We are up 15 percent compared to last year. If you look at each of them individually, they are all very unique circumstances. Murders are a tough thing unless it is a serial murderer, because we don’t know where the murders will be.
Q: What causes more traffic homicides?
A: DUIs are down, but there are more motorcycle accidents and pedestrians being killed than anything else. The number of pedestrians being killed has really surprised me.
Q: What do you think about the traffic and construction that is going on all over Jacksonville and the problems that presents to your officers on a daily basis?
A: Traffic homicides were the highest in decades in 2005. And there are two reasons for that. One, the original traffic engineering in Jacksonville was horrific. And two, we have torn up every major thoroughfare and that causes people to speed after they have been sitting in traffic. The construction also makes it harder to get to crime scenes.
Q: For years police used the term “suspect.” Today, the term “person of interest is used.” Why?
A: To me, a person of interest is somebody who may or may not be a suspect: somebody that after we talk to them may become a suspect. In the Whitlock case (the nursing student murdered recently in Riverside), we may have made an arrest, but there is still a person of interest that we want to talk to about what they may have seen.
Q: How are you dealing with retirement among the force?
A: Two ways. We have our community service office (CSO) program where we have 40 trainees hired right out high school. They have to have graduated or gotten their GED (Graduate Equivalency Degree). They go through our academy and become the feeder group for the police department. We also have a deferred retirement plan. We had a ton of our staff retire in 2004.
Q: What are the hiring requirements these days and how do you recruit?
A: (Rutherford explained that anyone that doesn’t go through the CSO program must have a bachelor’s degree.) The problem with recruiting those with their four-year degree is that if they have not thought about law enforcement at this point, they probably aren’t interested. We also don’t hire anyone with $1,000 or more worth of uncollected debt unless it’s for a medical reason or school. I do not want an officer in a house at midnight who has a lot of uncollected debt. That’s a bad mix.
Q: What is JSO’s retention rate on new hires?
A: About 98 percent, which is very high. In corrections, we were losing about 60 percent by year six. The corrections department has changed a lot and I am sure that number has changed drastically.
Q: What are you doing about the perception that Downtown isn’t safe?
A: It’s an issue the staff is creating a plan for and there needs to be additions Downtown. Part of the challenge of Downtown we need to address is the homeless. Right now, they are very visible and the other people seem outnumbered. In New York City, there are 100 times more homeless people, but they seem invisible because all you see is everyone else. How do you make people feel safer Downtown? The perception and the feeling is what you have to address. We have community officers and fully-sworn officers on bikes. The Downtown Ambassadors also play a big role as well.
Q: How is the re-election campaign going?
A: I haven’t really started yet, but we have done some fundraising. I filed to run not too long ago and we have about $240,000 in my campaign account. The poll numbers are looking good and we are ready.
Q: How does a political campaign, (Rutherford will run for reelection in 2007) affect the day-to-day operations as sheriff?
A: Well, it’s an elected office, but I’m fortunate because politics doesn’t enter into the job too much. It’s a good thing. Crime doesn’t care about whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat.
Q: But you do have to raise funds and prepare for the campaign?
A: Yes. We’ve registered to open an account (for campaign funds) fairly recently. And the poll numbers look fairly good. But it doesn’t affect my day-to-day duties too much. I’ve always felt that the best way to win reelection is to do a good job as sheriff.
Q: You talked earlier about installing geographic locators into your cars to keep track of officers. Those kind of systems have upset some employees (truckers and unionized employees elsewhere have complained the GPS systems are too intrusive). How has your rank-and-file responded?
A: The bottom line is, I think they understand this is an officer safety issue. It’s a means of finding them when they’re in trouble and they need help. That’s why I want the locator on their person. If they chase a suspect 500 yards into the woods, it doesn’t do us any good to know where their car is. It’s been well-received, because I think they understand that in a chase, it could very well save their lives.
Q: What came out of your town hall meetings on taser use?
A: We had 105 meetings all together and 16 town hall meetings ... It really covered the issue of “If they (detained people) are not dying from tasers, what are they dying from?” People have been dying suddenly and unexpectedly forever. It’s happened after being cuffed ... It’s been called “sudden apprehension death,” and medically it’s been called “excited delirium syndrome.” It comes from the adrenalin rush (of getting arrested/stopped).
That February we pulled the tasers and did a medical investigation (that confirmed those assertions). This community finally understands. We’re trying to minimize the potential for dying (from sudden apprehension death).
Q: You’ve had the taser demonstrated on you in public; What’s it like?
A: It’s 50,000 volts, or .0013 amps. You can’t turn it down or it won’t work ... It has about the same effect as the static ball at MOSH. (After I was tasered, I got back up and said,) “I’m not dizzy. I’m not confused. I’m just like I was before.”
Q: It seems like every budget story that comes out has some reference to the JSO being one of the few departments to escape cuts. Is that going to be good enough this year. Is the status quo going to be sufficient?
A: No, that’s not going to be sufficient. As this City continues to grow, at some point I’m going to have to add to my force. Part of the reason we’ve been able to operate as effectively as we have is due to things like the take home car plan. We had 150,000 calls responded to by off-duty officers. Those are officers who are on their way home from long work days.
Also, let me disagree with that assessment that we’re fully funded. We were not fully funded last year. I had $9.5 million cut from my budget. Last year, almost all of my budget went to salary and benefits and operational costs. I only have 8 percent of my budget that’s discretionary, that I can spend how I see fit to work against crime. I’ve had to pull officers back from special units, air units, bike units, to keep up with vacancies on the regular force. I want to be fully funded this year, and we need to sit down and hammer out what the funding is going to look like two, three, four years in advance.
Q: What are you doing to bring in more qualified officers?
A: We have a paid academy now. Before, I had to say “I want you to come to Jacksonville, go for seven months to the academy and then I might be able to get you a job.” Now (with the paid police academy,) we can recruit nationwide. We’ve also adjusted the standards. We want officers that are well-equipped, officers of character. We’ve increased the requirement of three years of no drug use to five years. They also can’t sell or use hallucinogenic drugs, and they can’t have a domestic violence conviction.
Q: How does your “management by riding around” help you do a better job?
A: For example, I’m out riding with an officer on the Northside near I-95. We pull over to help a state trooper, and he says, “We’re going to lose three of our guys to you (the Sheriff’s Department.)” And then he says, “Well, actually, two of them decided not to.” I said, “Why did two decide not to come?” He says, “Your second employment policy.” We had a policy where you can’t have a second job for the first year probation. I thought, “That’s not who that rule is in place for.” It’s not for veteran officers coming in. So, I changed it. That’s something that probably never would have risen to my desk. By riding around with officers, I hear about smaller problems. I don’t let them know I’m coming, either. It’s fun sometimes when you see the surprise of the citizens. When I walk up to the door, they look at me and go, “Aren’t you the sheriff?”
Q: Do you miss being a patrol officer?
A: Yes, but I still go ride. I love getting out in a patrol car and riding. I told my wife when I was promoted to Captain, ‘I have successfully promoted myself out of what I love doing.’
Q: You meet with the media every quarter. Why?
A: I want to build a better relationship between us (JSO) and the media. It makes things better at a crime scene.
Q: Who is privy to speak to the media at a crime scene?
A: We have a number of people who are approved to speak, but only on the specific incident. If they are there, they can talk about that scene and that crime. They cannot discuss policy issues. That is only done by appointed staff level and up. The officer on the scene is not only encouraged but required to get information out.
Q: If you weren’t a sheriff or a police officer what would you be doing?
A: I can’t imagine not being a police officer. This wasn’t something that I started off doing and I didn’t even think about being sheriff until two years before I ran.
Q: What is life like as a police officer, not knowing what is going to happen from day-to-day?
A: You are always worrying about what is going to happen. But this job gives me a great opportunity to serve the community; I love it. I’ve got the best team in the country and I believe so heavily in taking care of this community.