JCSO EXPANDS FLEET – Taxpayers saved thousands of dollars

Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.

Any law enforcement agency in a small, mainly rural area will usually have the problematic scope when it comes to bolstering their equipment and vehicle inventories while staying within a small, constrained budget.
At the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO), through forging working relationships with larger agencies, maximizing what they have in their inventory and utilizing grant monies, they are finding new ways to do just that without burdening taxpayer dollars.
In 2010, the JCSO received a Department of Justice grant while under the guidance of Sheriff David Hobbs. The grant allowed the JCSO to
purchase a $43,000 airboat at no cost to the county's taxpayers.
“It was a great idea to buy it; anytime you get a grant that is federally funded, you should take advantage of it,” said Jefferson's current Sheriff Mac McNeill. Without the grant, the airboat would have been a piece of equipment that they might not have had the opportunity to purchase and adding it to their inventory of vehicles was a way to further advance their ability to respond to emergencies.
However, since its purchase eight years ago, the airboat has only had around 36 hours of running use, and most of that has just been maintenance and upkeep related.
The airboat, which was planned to be used for water and flood rescues or other water-related emergencies, just didn't get used as frequently as the JCSO expected.
To prevent sinking, airboats must be operated by a specially trained and licensed boatsman, and the training can be costly.
Due to a high rate of turn-over within recent years at the JCSO, putting forth the funds to train a member of the Sheriff's Office hasn't been an option that was considered to be of the best financial wisdom.
Upon taking office, Sheriff McNeill decided to evaluate how efficiently the JCSO was using the equipment they currently possessed, especially the surplus equipment.
With Lt. Don Barfield, who is the JCSO's boat captain, Sheriff McNeill went over the boats that the JCSO had in their inventory and the airboat came to his attention.
Along with the airboat, the JCSO had a Pro-Drive boat in their surplus, which Barfield advised was the more frequently used boat. “The Pro-Drive will do anything the airboat will do,” said McNeill.
Whereas the airboat requires a trained operator to prevent the difficult boat from sinking, the Pro-Drive is easier to handle while completing all the same functions.
Keeping that in mind, Sheriff McNeill took council with Barfield and both agreed that the airboat was a piece of equipment that, while the JCSO had been right to purchase, was something that they could possibly use to trade for a vehicle that might better benefit the agency on a day-to-day basis.
The vehicle in mind was a Tahoe.
A lot of the vehicles that the JCSO currently had, such as Tauruses and Explorers, worked well for the Sheriff's Office, but were not the best option for the dirt and rural roads of Jefferson County.
“For dirt roads and rural areas, having a Tahoe, a full sized vehicle that can handle the roads, is a much better decision,” said Sheriff McNeill.
With that mindset in play, the JCSO decided to list their airboat on the Florida Sheriff's Association (FSA) website with the noted desire to trade the boat for a Tahoe.
While attending a FSA conference, Sheriff McNeill met the Marion County's Chief Deputy Robert Douglas, and ended up mentioning having an airboat and the JCSO's plan to trade it, upon which Chief Douglas expressed an interest in trading with the JCSO.
After the conference, Douglas contacted the JCSO and stated that he had found an extremely low mileage, fully-equipped Tahoe from amongst their fleet and offered it as a trade item for the airboat.
The prospect looked good, so Lt. Barfield went down to Marion County to evaluate the vehicle, and during the trade talks, the Marion County Sheriff's Office upped the arrangement with the JCSO, as they offered to throw in 40 LED light bars.
“Being a small agency, I said we will take anything you'll give us,” said Sheriff McNeill. “We can use them on our cars and we can use them when our current light bars go out. It also gives us the ability to help the surrounding agencies; we can help the Monticello Police Department...we can pay it forward.”
Already, the JCSO was getting more than they originally expected as the Marion County Sheriff's Office then added six Watchguard camera systems; an integrated in-car and body-worn camera system used by law enforcement agencies, and two Ford Crown Victorias that the Marion County agency had in surplus
The Watchguard systems alone cost approximately $6,000 a piece when brand new, and while the systems were surplus and therefore used, the camera systems still provided a welcomed addition to an already optimal deal and the two extra vehicles, while used with a bit of age on them, had been well maintained and cared for by Marion County.
Later, Sheriff McNeill traveled to South Florida to Marion County for a Sheriff's Summit, where he met Marion's Sheriff Billy Woods for the first time.
Having had experience working within smaller agencies in his past, Sheriff Woods knew the constraints that small, rural agencies face and wanted to extend generosity to the smaller JCSO by offering to include more Watchguard cameras, bringing the total up to 10 systems; and putting forth two additional Crown Victorias.
“What turned into one Tahoe has now turned into four other Crown Vics and all this other equipment; that's what this is about,” said Sheriff McNeill. “I'm trying to do the most efficient thing for the county and get the most bang for our buck and we felt that we were really successful in that.”
Prior to trading the airboat, the JCSO had it appraised and it was set at a valued worth of $26,000-$27,000.
The Marion County Tahoe, with all the added furnishings, is valued at roughly $35,000, according to Sheriff McNeill. So even without the added bonuses of the Crown Victorias (worth between $7,000-$9,000 a vehicle), the 40 LED light bars (which cost about $1,000 a piece when brand new), and the Watchguard systems (Which can be up to $6,000 each when brand new), the JCSO had already came out on top of the trade deal with the Marion County Sheriff's Office.
This new equipment will save some of the stress of having to buy replacements for faulty or damaged light bars or camera systems in the future, it will allow the JCSO to expand their fleet and will minimize the amount of out-of-pocket funds the county will need to pay for new vehicles in the future.
“These are savings that we won't have to spend county money on,” said Sheriff McNeill. “We are trying to be efficient; we are a small county, we have a small budget, so everything we can get from outside sources benefits the county and benefits the taxpayer. It's money we do not have to spend and that's what I am here to do – be as efficient as possible.”
There are other benefits to the trade with Marion County outside of just adding a bounty of new equipment and vehicles to the JCSO's inventory. Jefferson County has now formed a working friendship with the larger county's Sheriff's Office and its Sheriff.
“We now have a connection with the Marion County Sheriff's Office, who has been really good about helping us,” said Sheriff McNeill. “[Sheriff Woods] has been very, very kind to us.”
Sheriff McNeill advised that the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office has in no way limited their ability to respond to a water emergencies. Before offering the boat as a trade item, both Sheriff McNeill and Lt. Barfield weighed their options and with the Pro-Drive boat still in their inventory, as well as Jefferson County's proximity to the Florida Wildlife Commission, any water-related emergency can still be answered and undertaken with the same level of quick resource and ready response that they assure to the citizens they serve and protect.