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Sheriff's Office Show And Tell

STEPHEN HAMMILL/Tampa Tribune

Jimmy Dixon of the K-9 unit of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and his bloodhound Ellie specialize in finding lost children. They met with the public at the Oct. 2 town hall meeting.

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By STEPHEN HAMMILL | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

CITRUS - PARK The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office gave the public a glimpse into their operations Tuesday.

It was part of their town hall meeting, held at Sickles High School. The first hour constituted a show-and-tell session for the sheriff's office – a chance to reveal their special programs, and some of their toys.

The county's bomb squad demonstrated some of their tools, including a three-foot-tall robot. "The kids love that kind of thing," said District 3 field training officer and bomb squad member Doug White.

There were specialized vehicles of all shapes and sizes on display - an air boat, a helicopter, even an undercover Volkswagen Beetle.

K-9 unit member Jimmy Dixon showed off Ellie, a bloodhound trained to help find lost children. "We're just here to let anybody who comes out know what it is we do," he said.

The rain cut short some of the festivities, forcing visitors indoors. About 100 residents attended the meeting in the Sickles High School auditorium, joined by Sheriff David Gee and his command staff.

Gee spoke for 15 minutes, outlying some of the recent crime trends in the area. He stressed the need for more deputies on his staff, citing officer-to-citizen ratios that lag behind both the Tampa Police
Department and the state average. He spent the rest of the hour answering questions from the audience.

"Most of the questions you ask tonight will have the same answer; we don't have the manpower for all of the things we'd like to achieve," he said.

Traffic issues were at the forefront. "We're in a traffic crash crisis in Hillsborough County," Gee said to the audience. He asked residents to call state representatives and call for cameras to be installed at busy intersections.

Keystone resident Linda Martin asked for more patrol cars in her neighborhood. Others lauded their community resource deputies, the sheriff's direct link to communities.

The sheriff's office hosts two town hall meetings a year on a rotating geographical schedule. The last meeting in District 3 (the northwest portion of the county) was in 2005 in Northdale.

For information about future meetings, call sheriff's office spokesman J.D. Callaway at (813) 247-8058.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

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