- April 19, 2024
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Sheriff Rick Staly touted decreasing crime statistics and a number of new initiatives in the Flagler County Sheriff's Office's third Addressing Crime Together public meeting, held this year over Facebook Live due to COVID-19.
Answering resident questions, he also revealed some policy positions, stating his support for making Flagler County a 2nd Amendment sanctuary county and saying that he opposed drug legalization, including for marijuana.
Since 2017, Staly said, crime is down 47% overall, with a 52.5% decrease in property crime and an 11% decrease in violent crime.
"This is the lowest crime rate since 1995 in Flagler County," he said.
Meanwhile, case clearance rates have risen to 35%, he said. He attributed some of the drop in crime to preventative measures such as juvenile probation checks and the agency's practice of contacting recent state prison releasees.
"We want to help them stay on the straight and narrow track so they don’t go back to state prison or hit our jail," he said.
Among property crime categories, all have decreased this year except for car burglaries — which were also down until March, Staly said, when two young people decided to "tear up the S-Section and do a lot of burglaries."
Staly placed some of the blame for the car burglaries on residents who leave their cars unlocked with valuables visible inside.
Although the rate for car burglaries isn't down this year from last year, he said, it's still down 48% since 2018.
Aggravated assault rates have also increased in the first half of the year, with domestic violence and road rage up 2%, but with 38% of those cases this year involving a firearm, versus 16% last year.
"We believe a lot of this is the result of COVID-19 and the pressures that that has placed on our residents," with more people out of work and cooped up at home, Staly said.
Also this year, in 23% of domestic violence cases, a child in the home was the offender. Last year, there was only one case in which a child was the offender.
Road rage trouble spots in Flagler County are Interstate 95, US 1, Belle Terre Parkway and Palm Coast Parkway, he said. Pulling a gun on someone on the road is a felony in Florida.
This year has also seen an increase in traffic fatalities, although they're down 60% since 2017. Often they're on Interstate 95. One crash that killed two people on I-95 in January began with a tire blowout on a motorhome.
"Those kind of crashes are difficult to prevent," Staly said.
Flagler County Sheriff's Office initiatives to deter crime include the creation of the agency's Problem Area Crime Enforcement "PACE" team, a High Interest Target list for suspected drug houses, a Real Time Crime Center that is now in use and will soon be unveiled to the public, a new Cyber Crimes unit, plus programs at the jail and for juvenile offenders to help keep them on the right side of the law.
The agency has made extensive use of license plate reader technology: plate readers, Staly said, have led to 126 arrests, the apprehension of 19 fugitives, and the recovery of 15 missing persons, 68 stolen vehicles and 37 stolen tags since 2018.
The agency also plans to create a cold case unit to investigate unsolved using persons cases, homicides and sex crimes, Staly said, and is forming a "fatherhood program” in the jail to help beak the generational cycle of crime, “So when inmates these are released, they can be a real father to their children.”
A new section of the FCSO's webpage, at http://www.flaglersheriff.com/an-honor-to-serve, includes details on the FCSO's training and policies on the use of defensive tactics.
Responding to questions about 2nd Amendment sanctuary counties — what they are and whether Flagler should become one — Staly explained that the term describes counties in which the county commission passes a resolution supporting residents' 2nd Amendment rights.
"I 100% support that: I am a staunch 2nd Amendment supporter," Staly said. "I support that should the County Commission choose to do that. ... As long as I am the sheriff of Flagler County, we are not going to enforce unconstitutional laws that infringe on your 2nd Amendment right."
He added that he also supports open carry laws, noting that the FCSO is investigating two cases that appear to be stand-your-ground cases.
As to Florida's red flag law, which allows law enforcement to confiscate firearms from people deemed to be a risk to themselves or others, the agency has only used the law to confiscate firearms six or seven times, Staly said, "unlike other counties that have done hundreds and hundreds."
"There are a lot of checks and balances with that," he said.
Asked about drug legalization, Staly said he would not support it because it leads to other crimes.
