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Published on Thursday, October 17, 2002
in the Orlando Sentinel
KISSIMMEE -- Half of the Florida Highway Patrol troopers assigned to Osceola County have requested transfers in the past six months, saying they are tired of responding to more and more crashes as the county's population explodes.
Seven of 14 troopers have asked for transfers to different districts, said Trooper Kim Miller, spokeswoman for the FHP's Troop D, which covers Osceola, Orange, Lake, Volusia, Seminole and Brevard counties.
"They are burned out from only doing wrecks," Miller said Wednesday.
While the situation in Osceola is about transfers, a growing number of trooper vacancies are popping up throughout the state, said Capt. David Tripp, chief recruitment officer for the FHP. There are 1,770 uniformed highway patrol positions in Florida -- but more than 150 of those are not filled.
Central Florida especially has a critical shortage of troopers, Tripp said. Orange County has 12 vacancies out of 58 trooper positions and a freeze on troopers requesting transfers. In Lake County, three trooper slots out of 14 remain open.
"I am running this race as fast as I can and I still can't see the goal line," Tripp said. "Recruitment is an ongoing battle."
Osceola's growing population has been problematic for troopers as more residents -- coupled with thousands of theme-park tourists -- have led to a dramatic increase in accidents.
From 1992 to 2001, the number of crashes jumped by 38 percent, from 1,664 to 2,304, according to the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
FHP increases positions
But only recently has the state decided to increase the number of troopers assigned to patrol the county. In January, three trooper positions will be added to Osceola, raising the total from 14 to 17.
Because seven troopers are requesting to leave, however, the FHP must hire 10 new troopers for the county. Miller hopes the additional three trooper slots will help with the workload.
"We definitely need more troopers because it's a big county," she said. "It takes so long to get from one end to the other. In some cases, our response time is more than 45 minutes."
Osceola's hefty visitor traffic and its booming population, which increased by 60 percent in the past decade to more than 172,000, is just one factor in the equation.
Sheriff lacks personnel
Another is that troopers receive only minimal assistance from the Osceola County Sheriff's Office in responding to accidents.
Sheriff's Office Bureau Chief Jerry Geier said deputies stopped responding to crashes in May 2001 because they were a drain on resources. Deputies continue to assist with serious crashes that lead to emergencies such as threats to public safety or major road blockage.
"We need to have our personnel available for more serious calls," Geier said. "Although we hate to see people waiting, we don't have the personnel to work minor accidents."
So troopers must pick up the slack. Some of them are tired of doing it. For example, two Osceola-based troopers, a father and son, have asked to be based in Polk County, where they live.
Turnpike detail preferred
Two other 15-year Osceola veterans have requested to switch their patrol to Florida's Turnpike.
"It's a slower pace on the turnpike and they'll be able to do more pro-active enforcement, such as monitoring speeding and aggressive driving," Miller said.
In Central Florida, only Lake County exceeded Osceola in the percentage increase of crashes during the same 10-year period. Lake had 1,545 crashes in 1992 and 2,331 in 2001, a 51 percent increase. However, unlike in Osceola County, troopers don't have to carry all of the burden in Lake County.
"If it's an accident that our guys can work faster than the highway patrol, we'll take care of it," Lake Sheriff's Sgt. Jack Holder said.
"We have a good working relationship with them."