from staff
“I tell people all the time: if you don’t want to be murdered, don’t sling dope, don’t hang out with people who carry illegal guns and treat your spouse right.”
Sheriff John Rutherford has had to learn some hard truths in his nearly five years in office, not to mention his 33 years in law enforcement in Jacksonville. From battling the “no snitching” culture to lobbying politicians for crucial funding to simply handling the day-to-day operations of one of the largest law enforcement agencies in Florida, Rutherford said the job can only be tackled if it’s a person’s true calling in life.
In Wednesday’s Daily Record, Rutherford talked about the $21 million and more than 400 officers he needs to battle Jacksonville’s crime problem — and that it still won’t be enough if the criminals can’t be effectively prosecuted.
In today’s final discussion with Rutherford, he explains some of the current challenges his department faces, including the public’s perception of the police, how the job has affected him personally and also a look to future elections, both his own re-election bid and the upcoming presidential vote.
And for those who think Rutherford won’t chase down a suspect or pull someone over for speeding just because he’s sheriff, think again. “I love doing that stuff. That’s why I’m a police officer.”
The “no snitching” attitude is a problem across the country. What can your officers do to not only diffuse that attitude, but encourage communities to change their overall perception of law enforcement?
“Police presence is the key. We have officers every day in these neighborhoods and visible in the neighborhoods. We knocked on 31,000 doors and handed out packets (on how to be safe in your community).
“We tell the people in the neighborhoods, ‘When you won’t tolerate it anymore, you’ll start calling us.’ The result has been an over 200 percent increase in tips from the community. Amazing. We had over 400 join SHADCO (Sheriff’s Advisory Council) and that has created great dialogue. We tell people we are not here to occupy their neighborhoods, we are here to help protect. There’s a fine line between oppression and protection.”
How is violent crime so far this year compared to last year?
“We are better because we just started our Operation Safe Streets that puts extra officers on the streets.”
You have repeatedly said that a strong family environment will curb violent crime. Can the Sheriff’s Office be a part of that?
“We have a lot of city programs and social services that are better able to handle those types of problems. A lot of times we forget that to fight crime completely, we have to go by P.I.E. — prevention, intervention and enforcement. The Police Athletic League is a model and we’ve done some programs, but it’s not my responsibility. There are many programs out there. I’m here to enforce.”
How does Jacksonville compare to other parts of the state in terms of funding and officers on the streets?
“We have 1.95 officers per 1,000 in population on the street while the state average is 2.4 per 1,000. Compare that to St. Pete(rsburg) which has 2.14 per 1,000 in population. If Jacksonville gets all 225 officers I have applied for, we jump St. Pete. But, St. Pete doesn’t have 840 square miles to patrol. If the City Council and the mayor says I can have the officers, it will take three years to get all of them on the street. They are out there to hire. We can hire them if we have the authority.”
Being in law enforcement has never been a “popularity contest” but how do you think the public perceives the JSO?
“I think the public appreciates it when we can come into their neighborhood and work with them because we have taken this community policing approach as opposed to an oppressive approach. When I go out and walk neighborhoods with the Operation Safe Streets program, those folks love us. It was the same thing when we took over Malison Park and took it away from the drug dealers and gave it back to that community. We had double-digit reductions in violent crime in a 1,000-foot radius of that park.
“Our tips went up 250 percent. I think that’s an indicator that the people wanted the presence because they knew they needed that presence. When they saw it they were relieved.
“The difference is the community policing aspect. If we had gone in there with the old 1960s military style, it wouldn’t have worked. People would have said ‘you’re not here protecting us, you’re oppressing us’.”
Murders make headlines, but what’s the biggest public safety issue facing Jacksonville?
“We just experienced the worst traffic fatality year in the history of the City of Jacksonville. People complain about officers working speed traps when they should be out putting murderers in jail. Last year we lost 123 of our citizens to murder. We lost 174 of our citizens to traffic crashes and over half of those fatalities involved DUI. I can’t be a single-issue sheriff. Our traffic enforcement index (TEI) is 26. It should be 35. In order to get our TEI from 26 to 35, we have to have an additional 56 police officers.”
What are the demographics of a typical murderer and their victim?
“The average murder victim and the average murder suspect have identical drug use arrests – 1.15. The murderers have a little more total arrests. They have about eight while the victims have about five. They have almost identical felony arrests.
“I tell people all the time: if you don’t want to be murdered, don’t sling dope, don’t hang out with people who carry illegal guns and treat your spouse right.
“There’s a generation out there that’s lost. They will shoot you at the drop of a hat. I want them off the street. I either want to put them in jail or I want to run them out of Jacksonville. Quite frankly I don’t care which.”
How is the Community Service Officer program working?
“I’ll tell you how I got the idea. A lot of communities have them, but they use retirees kind of like we do with our school crossing guards. My first year as sheriff (2003), it seemed like every week we were getting hit with a hurricane or brushed by one and we lost power in a couple of them. I had been at the command center all night and when I was driving home, I saw police officers at all the intersections on Beach Blvd. directing traffic. It occurred to me that all these officers are costing us a fortune. It occurred to me we had crossing guards we were paying minimum wage. It made me think – why do we have guns and badges out here doing things we don’t need guns and badges to do?
“That thought expanded to other things like traffic crashes, minor property crowds and crowd control at events like Jaguars games. I thought it would be a great way to stretch the tax dollar. We also had another problem that was coming up. We were about to go into the DROP – the Deferred Retirement Option Plan – and a lot of officers were about to leave in 2004.
“I saw Community Service Officers not only as a great way to go out and recruit, but a way to sort of grow our own in the business. There’s nothing worse for me than to see us spend $100,000 to put a recruit through class and then he gets out on the street and gets into his first fist fight and says ‘you know what? This job isn’t for me’ and he quits. That’s a lot of time and money walking out the door. It takes 11 months to go from recruit to solo officer out on the street. I thought the Community Service Officer program was a great way to kill two birds with one stone. We hire high school graduates and pay them less than half what we pay an officer. We give them full benefits and reimburse them for college tuition. We have a smaller candidate pool (than other cities) because we require a four-year degree (to be a police officer) or you can have a two-year degree with four years of experience.
“It also gives us an opportunity for minority recruitment because we can get kids who may not have the economic wherewithal to get a four-year degree. We can get them into college and get a two-year degree while they’re working for us on a five-year contract. We require them to go to college. It’s not a full-time job. At the end of five years, they’re required to leave that position because the next wave is coming in. They’re either going to become a police officer, a correctional officer, a civilian employee or they’re going to be unemployed from the Sheriff’s Office. Community Service Officers are also a force multiplier because they free up a gun and a badge to be out in the community. It has been a tremendous success.”
How much, if any, of the recent external audit’s recommendations are you bound to abide by?
“I’m not bound at all. It’s a political decision (to approve funding new officers). That’s a decision the community will have to make.”
How has the job of sheriff changed you as a person?
“It’s had its impact on my family. I was always committed to this, it was a calling. My wife was used to me not being there. When we were (pushing the use of) tasers, we held 104 town hall meetings in eight months. I did not spend one night during that time at home. But, we turned the community and when we rolled them into the schools, there was not a peep.
“If being sheriff is not a calling, I don’t think you can do it. All the beating up you take in the press, you wouldn’t do it for just a job. You’ll do it for a calling. I am more committed now and I appreciate how difficult the job is.”
Does it matter to you as sheriff who the next president is?
“Yes, it does. One of the reasons I supported Mitt Romney is because he was a governor. He’s from the executive branch. He understands the issues an executive has to face in carrying out operations. There isn’t a CEO left in the race.”
Does party affiliation matter now?
“I’m a Republican, so obviously I think party matters. However, I have been disappointed in the Republican Party the last several years. They have been spending like Democrats. That bothers me.
“What scares me about the Democratic Party is the idea of socialized medicine. My son has lived in Italy the past 10 years. I have a (premature) grand daughter. I have been in those hospitals and I can tell you we don’t want socialized medicine. I don’t know the answer, but that’s not it.”
Will you run again in 2011?
“There’s a very good likelihood because it’s my calling. I would love nothing more than to be sheriff when we put these resources on the street, utilize them and put the bad guys in jail.”
Do you still pull people over?
“Oh yeah, all the time. Sometimes they are shocked when they see it’s me. I’ll give them a warning if it’s a traffic violation.”