As Polk County commissioners plan for the next fiscal year’s budget, Sheriff Grady Judd came before them Tuesday asking that the final budget in September include an extra $7.8 million for his agency.
In his hour-long pitch for additional funding, he spoke of the surge in countywide growth and how it has prompted a need for 39 additional staff positions.
He touched on why 23 of those positions are needed for the jail, which is more crowded than it’s been in the past 20 years thanks to the number of criminal trials that have been postponed because of COVID-19.
And in response to a question from Commissioner George Lindsey, Judd reiterated his position on body cameras for his deputies.
He doesn’t want them.
No body cams for Judd
The death of George Floyd in May 2020 at the hands of Minneapolis police officers triggered national protests and prompted calls for better accountability and more transparency from law enforcement leaders. Even though several city police departments within Polk County have recently moved toward body cams or discussed implementing them, Judd is opposed, concerned about privacy.
“There are moments and times that we all would like to have a body camera,” he said. “But the community is clearly misled. They think that’s the end-all (solution.) There are a few people in society that don’t trust us and never will. … But they aren’t seeing the unintended consequences, they aren’t seeing the 360 (degree) picture.”
He added, “Nothing is more important to me than our individual privacy rights. The government does not have the right to hang a body camera on a government agent and walk us into your home because you’re a victim. We don’t have a right to do that.
“Even good people who get frustrated and have a stressful moment act and do things they shouldn’t,” Judd said. “And they certainly don’t want it to be public record. If I have body cameras, the whole world is going to see them.”
Judd’s presentation comes amid early budget preparations
Polk County will take the first official step in its budget planning process on July 20 when commissioners vote on the tax rate for the next fiscal year.
Ahead of that discussion and decision, the commission on Tuesday received a proposed budget preview and presentation from staff. It forecast a $2.1 billion budget, which is 19% higher than its current budget.
A piece of that increase is brought about by growth. The county is set to collect $43 million in revenue from taxes paid by property owners, an increase of 19% over the current year.
Another reason for the budget swell: The county is receiving $140 million in funding from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan. The commission continues to deliberate on how that COVID relief money should be used.
“When you see the budget we are proposing, just bear in mine that it has some artificial skew to it that is not normal,” County Manager Bill Beasley said. “We have the opportunity now to do things that we wouldn’t normally do, but it’s reflected in an elevated budget.”
The Sheriff’s Office currently operates under a $179.7 million budget. Judd is requesting a budget of $187.5 million for the next fiscal year.
Judd needs 30 full-time employees, 9 part-time staffers
Judd points to the population growth of Polk County as a reason why he needs additional staff positions.
The Lakeland-Winter Haven area is the second-fastest growing area in the country, according to census data.
“This is the kind of growth we must respond to that is taxing us every day,” Judd told the commission.
In 2020, the sheriff’s office responded to 326,051 calls for service or roughly 893 per day.
He’s asking for funding to hire seven deputies (four for patrol, three for schools), nine part-time school crossing guards, and 23 employees for the jail, including 11 detention support specialists and 12 detention deputies.
“We will continue to deliver the best services for the least amount of money,” Judd said.
Crowded jail causes ‘whiplash’
Judd told the commission that the crime rate in Polk County is at a 49-year low, 41% lower than the state average.
And while that rate has decreased 81% from 1997 to 2020, according to Judd, the jail’s population has not been higher going back two decades, data shows. As of Tuesday, 2,803 people were incarcerated at the jail.
The crowding is largely caused by the fact that 134 inmates being held on murder and manslaughter charges had their trials delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Judd said.
The inmate volume has put a strain on staff, resulting in overtime.
“We are having to do mandatory (overtime) in the jail,” he told The Ledger, “which is fine in the short-term but after a while, people want the time off. You’re dealing with morale. We want to get relief in detention so we can reduce the mandatory overtime.”