Polk sheriff aims to add 125 deputies over five years to handle population growth

With the explosive growth in northeastern Polk County and throughout the county's unincorporated areas, more deputies will be needed to maintain public safety, the sheriff says.

Over the next five years, Sheriff Grady Judd expects to add 125 more deputies, mostly in patrol cars. He oversaw the hiring of 25 last year. He says the deputies are needed because of the demand for deputies in public and private schools.

Judd mentioned his agency's hiring push during the annual County Commission retreat in March. Scott Wilder, the sheriff's communications director, said the department first included the 25-deputy increase in its 2022-2023 budget, then again in 2023-2024, the current budget.

The county of 800,000-plus residents is experiencing a historic low crime rate and that rate is also 45% lower than the rest of Florida’s state average, Wilder said.

The last available statewide crime rate data from FDLE was from 2021, which was 1.95 per 100 population, he said. For 2023, Polk's crime rate was 1.06 crimes per 100 population.

Population growth is driving the need to expand the force, including positions needed for the new district substation for Poinciana, which is expected to be built in the next year or so.

“As of May 6, 2024 we have 3 open positions (761 + 35 on stipend in the Law Enforcement Academy out of 799 allocation)," Scott Wilder, the sheriff’s communications director, said in an email. “We have 11 more approved to enter the academy and 141-plus in the hiring pool,” Wilder said.

The agency is offering new recruits several financial incentives.

By July, the starting annual salary for a new deputy will go to $61,158, which is up from the current salary of $58,474.

Also:

• There's a 100% scholarship for recruits who commit to attending the Kenneth C. Thompson Institute of Public Safety.

• There's a $3,000 per month stipend while attending the academy.

• A $2,000 bonus is offered for a current sworn law enforcement officer (in state and out).

• Moving allowance: $5,000 for out-of-state, $2,000 for in-state.

• State of Florida bonus: $5,000 for all law enforcement officers who come to a Florida agency from another state.

Overall, law enforcement agencies are having a difficult time recruiting potential new officers in Florida and nationwide.

Wilder said the anti-police narrative and “defunding the police crowd” are responsible for “actively pushing a negative police narrative for several years.”

“The national news media has amplified the negative police messaging, taking a few outrageous events and painting all law enforcement as villains,” Wilder said. “Locally, thankfully, our citizens and communities support law enforcement and law and order and we are not having that issue.”

He also said another reason the Polk County Sheriff’s Office has not had the recruiting issues other agencies are experiencing is because of Judd’s “high profile as a law and order, pro-law enforcement, hold criminals accountable, law enforcement executive.”

During Judd’s presentation to county administrators and commissioners at the retreat in March, he said the county is behind in infrastructure and personnel, according to the meeting minutes.

In the past four years, Polk County has added an entire city the size of Lakeland, he said. The county has experienced a 15.5% growth rate. He added that there has been a 65% population increase since 2011. He said the unincorporated population will be 60% of the total population.

Judd said the growth along the Interstate 4 corridor is one of the reasons his agency needs additional deputies. He said deputies are now responding to a higher number of calls at apartment complexes as urban areas become more densely populated. Further, with more visitors coming to Polk County every day − as many as 15,000 visitors per day − they are also driving up demand for public safety services.

At the March retreat, Judd told county officials the good news is that his agency has 93 people in the law enforcement academies.

Judd also said Polk Schools Superintendent Frederick Heid approached him concerning the Safe School Program and the need for a uniform system throughout the schools with one jurisdiction.

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Judd said they added 54 deputies paid for by the Polk County School Board. He said the Sheriff’s Office has taken over student safety at half of the district’s schools within the westside of the county and cities and will take over the schools within the eastern half of the district this year.

He added that the School Board funds the deputies almost 100%. He said they are able to keep the students safe with a unified response to issues involving children. He discussed the school population throughout the county and said it is has grown larger than the population of Lakeland. He said these deputies also cover the special events held at night.

Judd told commissioners that last year he came before the board to discuss a jail expansion because of the increased population. He said the Sheriff's Office has worked its way through the COVID times, and the jail population average has gone down 11.1%. That means, he said, the department can push out the jail expansion by one year.

Further, the recently implemented STARR program (or Substance Treatment Advocacy Recovery and Re-entry Program) could further reduce crime, jail population and recidivism, saving space and resources at the jail. The program puts inmates on probation and assists with their mental health medicine with the goal of reducing mental health-related repeat offenses.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk Sheriff aims to add 125 deputies in next five years