- November 6, 2024
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The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office has a new focus on crime preventative measures and rehabilitation of criminals as Sheriff Rick Staly reorganizes the agency from its former structure under previous Sheriff Jim Manfre.
“If we can rehabilitate someone who’s made a mistake … then I would like to rehabilitate them,” Staly told the Palm Coast City Council in a presentation on local law enforcement at a City Council meeting April 4. “I’d rather not have a revolving door and keep having them come back to my ‘Green Roof Inn.’”
The Sheriff’s Office is working with the Flagler County School District to provide educational opportunities in the county jail, Staly said. The jail already has anger management courses and food management certification courses, and the Sheriff’s Office hopes to add more classes. “I want to take it to the next level, with plumbing and HVAC and electrical,” Staly said.
The Sheriff’s Office hopes to help prevent youth crime by expanding its Police Athletic League offerings to middle school sports, Staly said, and those new options will likely be offered on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in the next school year.
Deputies will also be working more proactively on follow-up measures with young people who have been charged with crimes, Staly said.
For students who hope to have a different interaction with rather criminal justice system — as law enforcers, rather than as law breakers — the Sheriff’s Office plans to offer a new criminal justice academy at the high school level.
Students who enroll in the proposed program, Staly said, will graduate high school with most of the classes they will need to become local law enforcement officers.
“They graduate … they take two classes at the police academy, and they can be a cop,” he said.
That program will be modeled on the new fire academy at Flagler Palm Coast High School, which lets students graduate with most of the certifications needed to become firefighter paramedics.
The Sheriff’s Office is also creating a new homeland security division.
Flagler County has a “very low overall crime rate,” Staly said, and most of that crime is property crime. “We could probably reduce that 70% if people would lock their car doors,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office has a budget of $26 million, of which 10% comes from the city. Another 3% comes from the school district, about 1% comes from grants, and the rest comes from county tax dollars.
