Exclusive one-on-one: Sheriff T.K. Waters wants more officers to fill out new policing districts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — On Saturday, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will begin its new policing districts, and Sheriff T.K. Waters wants to bring more officers to the streets to help fill them out.

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Sheriff Waters said that as Jacksonville’s population grows, he doesn’t want the department to be understaffed. His concern with the old zones, the placement of officers in them and how many they have, is that there would have been too many calls for service and not enough people to cover it.

“You don’t want to wait until we get so large and our force is very small. You’re asking for trouble,” Sheriff Waters said in an exclusive, one-on-one interview with Action News Jax.

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The agency recently showed off new policing districts that are set to roll out in just 2 days. There are now six policing districts, 24 sectors and 144 sub-sectors.

JSO said the hope is that each district will have 14 squads and each one will be staffed by 10 officers. Sheriff Waters said he hopes to cut down on response times and showed Action News Jax a real-time crime map of what’s happening in the city during our one-on-one.

“There’s 160 current calls and response time for priority 1 and priority 2 calls is 11.4 minutes,” he said looking at the map. “We want to get that down, but it varies from day to day depending on what’s going on around the city.”

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Nationally, law enforcement agencies who reported to the FBI show the average number of officers per 1,000 people is 2.4.

JSO currently has about 1,800 sworn officers and roughly 1,200 are patrols as of mid-July, so it hovers at around 1.8 officers per 1,000 people, as the state says Jacksonville has an estimated population of 986,804 people.

Sheriff Waters said as a consolidated agency, the city’s 850+ square miles is a lot to cover; as the population grows, he wants at least 176 more officers over the next four years and doesn’t think that’s too much to ask.

“I’m not telling you I’m going to stop all crime. It’s impossible to say that, but what I’m telling you is that we want to do our best to control it and respond to community needs as they arise. So, why would you wait?” he said.

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The Sheriff said 81% of JSO’s budget is for salaries and benefits. With that said how does it pay for more?

“JSO is a great agency and a great place. There’s a lot offered here. As we bring them on, we will have to deal with those issues as they come forward,” he said.

Locally across our area, the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is also working to increase starting pay.

“The problem is when you go to Duval County Sheriff’s Office, they may start lower than us, but by the 5-year mark, they’re $10,000 more than us,” SJSO Sheriff Rob Hardwick said at a commissioners meeting in June.

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SJSO is looking to bump annual starting pay from $52,000 to $55,000.

The Clay County Sheriff’s Office starts at just over $41,000.

Out of all the big cities in Florida, Waters noted at a town hall that Jacksonville is the lowest in pay. JSO gives slightly over $50,000 to start and $53,316 after one year.

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Action News Jax looked at the starting pay for other agencies in Florida:

• Tampa Police Department: $65,977
• Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office: $60,000
• Miami-Dade Police Department: $56,682
• Orange County Sheriff’s Office: $50,000 right now but will soon be raised to about $55,000.
• Orlando Police Department: $54,048.

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In Jacksonville, the Fraternal Order of Police is the bargaining agency for JSO. Waters added that money aside, there’s still a draw to join.

“I don’t bargain salaries, but I think it’s important to try and stay competitive, and I support what they try to do,” Waters said. “Most of us are called to this profession. It’s not something like, ‘Oh I just want a job.’ If you just want a job, this is probably not the best place for you,” he said.

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Action News Jax asked the Mayor’s Office about potential budgeting for more officers in the future.

“I support the sheriff’s focus on community policing and hope the new police officers will foster more connection. We will continue to evaluate the budget each year to ensure public safety remains a top priority for our fast-growing city,” Mayor Donna Deegan said in a statement.

Mayor Deegan budgeted roughly $580 million for JSO out of the $1.7 billion budget. If approved, it would take effect on October 1.

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