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**The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office:Community Policing - One Pedal at a Time**
  April 2018 | Volume 11 | Issue 4

*The COPS Office is pleased to feature the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office as the April 2018 winner of the Community Policing in Action Photo Contest. The winning photo features a deputy coaching a child during his first bicycle ride.*

Pinellas County, Florida, sits just  west of the Tampa area and encompasses the cities of St. Petersburg,  Clearwater, and Palm Harbor. The county’s land mass is quite small, covering  approximately 280 square miles. Its population of approximately one million  make it the most densely populated county in the state. Pinellas  County can become quite the congested area, especially when including its over  six million visitors each year.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has served in Pinellas County for 35  years and has been the sheriff since 2011. He describes the area as unique in  that it is entirely urban, extremely dense, and home to a diverse population.  With 24 different cities in  the  county, the area faces many challenges, but the most difficult one at the  present time is prolific offender juvenile crime.

“No question, it has been out of control,” he said of the  juvenile crime issue. “The major offenders are kids in the 14 to 17 age range.  Auto thefts, auto burglaries, crime. We’ve had some very tragic situations of  young kids stealing cars and getting killed.”

Juvenile crime, specifically auto theft, has been such a  problem in Pinellas County that the Tampa Bay Times ran an investigative series  in 2017 called “Hot Wheels” to bring light to the challenges.  Gualtieri says the problem has been building over time and that socioeconomic  disparities in the county play a huge factor.

“Way too many kids are – and feel – helpless. They don’t  have the right parental influences. They’re going to the streets for their  activity,” he explained. “Unfortunately, we’ve seen  too  many of them die because they wreck the cars.”

While law enforcement officers are typically the first to  come in to contact with these young  offenders, Gualtieri knows that the solution to turning the tide involves the  entire community. “We’re going to drive  [crime]  down through enforcement efforts, but enforcement efforts are not the solution.  The solution is socioeconomic – building long-term solutions and relationships  with these kids.”

In June 2014, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, in  collaboration with the St. Petersburg Police Department, announced a  countywide initiative to reduce teen crime called HOME (Habitual Offender  Monitoring Enforcement). HOME brings together law enforcement officers from  nine neighboring agencies to help better supervise and track habitual juvenile  offenders.

The Sheriff’s Office also works closely with the Department  of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Mental Health to create holistic  efforts that involve diversion programming and family involvement. “We’re  trying to change the direction of the ship instead of just steering the canoe,”  Gualtieri described. “We have a Juvenile Pre-Arrest Diversion program for kids  who are first and second time offenders. We sign them up for community service  and don’t arrest them.” This program mirrors the Adult Pre-Arrest Diversion Program launched by  Gualtieri in October 2016.

Building relationships, however, should start before a child  gets in trouble the first time. Gualtieri understands and stresses the  importance of building relationships with the area’s youth  as early as  possible. “We need to deal with all of the juvenile issues, but we have to  start with the kids at a young age. We have to make sure that the kids who are  on the right path, stay on the right path. And if they start to veer slightly,  we make sure that we redirect them.”

With two dedicated Community Policing units, one in each  district, deputies have unlimited opportunities to get involved. The units host  many events in which deputies can participate, but there are often times when    community policing happens without planning. “One of the caveats of community  policing is that there is no set schedule,” Gualtieri said. “Deputies are out  all the time.”

The winning photo features a deputy and a first-time bicycle  rider during a bike event, doing exactly what Gualtieri stresses to be so  important – building relationships. “Community policing deputies are out there  and they know the kids *and the parents*.  The deputies know what’s going on with the kids – for example, if the kid gets  in trouble and the parent got arrested the week prior.”

Having such well-established  relationships at an early age may be one critical aspect to help law  enforcement officers drive down juvenile crime in Pinellas County, even if it  happens one pedal at a time.

The COPS Office congratulates the Pinellas County Sheriff’s  Office for being one of the 12 winners of the COPS Office 2018 Community  Policing in Action Photo Contest and for its commitment to community policing.

*Written with  contributions from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. Photo courtesy of the  Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office.*

Najla Haywood          Managing Editor			COPS Office

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