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Published on Tuesday, February 17, 2004
in the NBC-2.com
LEE COUNTY, February 17, 2004-- Florida Highway Patrol staff is at critical lows. The FHP doesn't have enough troopers in Southwest Florida to patrol the streets and Lee County is in the worst shape. If you're in an accident, the Florida Highway Patrol will respond, but if you just need traffic assistance another agency might come to help.
| Number of troopers county should have | Number of troopers actually on the road |
|
| Charlotte | 11 | 6 |
| Collier | 12 | 9 |
| Lee | 18 | 8 |
Troopers say they're strapped because colleagues have retired and others have been promoted to higher ranking positions.
"There's a stress when you don't have enough people to handle it the way you would like," said Lieutenant Bill Rippy of the Florida Highway Patrol.
To fill the open positions, it will cost roughly $75,000 per trooper along with months of rigorous training in Tallahassee and at home.
"You're looking at 36-38 weeks, that's a lot of lead time," said Lieutenant Bill Rippy.
Lead time that takes troopers away from their own time. Many of the troopers are taking time away from their regular investigative positions to patrol the roads. vLaw enforcement agencies have a mutual agreement to help out and relieve the strain on one agency.
"It's mostly traffic accidents and those that block the road where traffic needs to be directed," said Ileana Limarzi of the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
Highway patrol says it's responding to the most critical calls and is sending Road Rangers out for routine traffic assistance.
They guarantee people who need help will get it.