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Published on Monday, July 22, 2002
in the Naples Daily News
Florida Highway Patrolman John Pyne walks his 4-year-old German shepherd, Nitzka, in the evenings not only for the usual reasons but also to fulfill the spirit of his lease.
He and his family live on school property inside a double-wide mobile home, which he owns. But the rent can't be beat: it's free.
In exchange, Pyne and Nitzka act as warning signs to potential vandals.
"At first I had my doubts," said Pyne's wife, Christi. "Now it's just like having a regular home."
In fact, there are 19 Collier County sheriff and state patrol officers living on school campuses throughout Collier County. The program, which has a waiting list, started five years ago as a way to stave off school vandalism, officials said.
"They are required to bring home nightly a police car and security inspections at their school ... (and) we provide them affordable housing," said Eli Mobley, the school district's director of risk management and insurance.
Pyne moved from the Bradenton-Sarasota area more than a year ago. He's part of a drug intervention program — Troop F that covers 17 counties — along with his drug-sniffing partner, Nitzka, who was bred in Hungary.
Before Naples, the family lived in a traditional house with a two-car garage.
"I didn't now how my wife would feel," Pyne said last week from inside his living room, amid pictures of his two children.
However, his wife has dealt just fine with the 1,900-square-foot, four-bedroom, two-bath manufactured home.
An American flag waved from its entrance and a chain-link fence divided the Pyne's residence from Golden Terrace Elementary — not 20 feet away.
"It's big and roomy and just like living in a house," Christi Pyne said. "At first people weren't real sure what was going on. They kept looking through the front window."
But now, the Pynes are part of the neighborhood.
It's most convenient for 10-year-old Kameron Pyne: "I don't have to take a bus."
The school district spends about $30,000 to set up each trailer pad at the 19 schools.
The homeowner's power, water and garbage services are hooked into the schools and free of charge. School officials couldn't say how much the district pays each month for those services because the officers' costs are combined with that of the schools.
However, officers pay for cable, phone and any other extras.
There's anecdotal evidence the program prevents crime, but Mobley said it's hard for the district to come up with figures showing such a trend.
"I don't see any way of putting a statistical number on it" because there could be contributing factors such as new alarm systems, Mobley said.
Still, he noted after an officer moved into Immokalee Middle School the problems there stopped.
One time Nitzka caught two kids breaking into a portable classroom.
"Nothing major has occurred," Pyne said. "But kids are kids."
Each principal picks who will live at the school but the School Board gives its final approval each year.
"It's our desire to pursue it in other locations," Mobley said.
For the Pynes, the arrangement has many benefits. They were able to save money and Christi enrolled at Edison Community College, where she's training to become a nurse.
"I always wanted to go to school and now I can work part-time ... plus I like to be with my kids," she said.
Golden Terrace students also benefit.
John Pyne introduced his drug-sniffing canine to classrooms, and one student was so impressed, she's started a fund-raiser to buy Nitzka a bullet-proof vest.
In the end, the Pynes' home is just like anyone else's except for its location.
The household also includes the Pyne's daughter, 3-year-old Morgan, as well as two cats: Mookie, a Russian blue, and Marvin, a mixed breed.
In the front yard, they've even got their own mailbox.