Published on Tuesday, June 7, 2005
in the Daytona Beach News-Journal

Sheriff's Office takes over auto crashes

Imagine a rainy summer afternoon in unincorporated Volusia County. Slick roads, lots of traffic and a minor error in judgement.

No one is injured, just two cars with a little bent sheet metal. However, the drivers may wait for an hour or more for a Florida Highway Patrol trooper to arrive and take a report.

Sheriff Ben Johnson wants to put an end to that scenario.

Effective June 1, his deputies are responding to and investigating noninjury automobile accidents in the county, excluding those on major highways.

"We are trying to do the best we can for the citizens of Volusia County," Johnson said.

Traditionally, Johnson said, accident investigations have been the role of the highway patrol, but with limited resources and busy workloads, citizens can find themselves sitting along the side of a road for hours.

"We are trying to alleviate some of that workload for the FHP," Johnson said.

The agency appreciates the assist, according to FHP spokeswoman Trooper Kim Miller.

"This will let us focus on and get to the accidents that are the most serious. The fatalities, serious injuries or ones with road blockage," she said. "It also frees us up for more proactive enforcement."

There is precedent for the move. Miller said over the past couple of years, Johnson's deputies have assisted with accidents, including fatalities, when troopers find themselves overwhelmed. Deputies working in Deltona also handle accidents -- much the same as municipal law enforcement officers would -- as part of the Sheriff's Office contract with that community.

"We are pleased they can assist us in any way they can," Miller said.

On average, the highway patrol has only four to seven troopers patrolling Volusia's roadways during a standard day shift, Miller said. On midnights, that can be down to only one or two.

"It helps us out and helps the citizens out," she said.

The Sheriff's Office is not alone in the minor accident arena. Seminole County Sheriff's deputies have been performing a similar function for the past two years, spokesman Steve Olsen said.

"An injury or death we hand over to the highway patrol," he said.

Johnson said he looked at how Seminole officials handled the additional duty before implementing his program.

Lake County Sheriff's Office also writes minor accident reports on a periodic basis, but that is a case-by-case situation, Sgt. Christie Mysinger said.

"Normally, we forward them to the Florida Highway Patrol," she said. "That is what they do, traffic."

But like in Volusia, Mysinger said, there can be a shortage of troopers, so when things get backed up, her deputies will step in.

Brevard County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Andrew Walters said his agency operates similarly to Lake County and has done so for a number of years.

"It is a matter of customer service," he said.

Efforts to reach the Flagler County sheriff's officials about their accident policies were unsuccessful.

Johnson said while the program is designed to benefit the citizens, it is only an experiment.

"We will look it over in six months," he said. "If it creates a major issue in terms of calls for service, then we will have to re-evaluate it."