Good News! Sheriff Fires Employees and Releases Criminals
BySo happy he is eliminating employees and returning criminals to the streets, Pinellas County, Florida Sheriff Jim Coats invited the local press in for a “photo opportunity.” In this photo op, the sheriff boasted that he eliminated 51 positions and 536 inmate beds.
I suspect these actions will cost the taxpayers much more than the $4.2 million the sheriff is cutting from his budget. But that’s ok, at least Sheriff Coats got his photo op.
From the St. Petersburg Times:
Pinellas sheriff touts cost-cutting measures
Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats says he saved taxpayers $4.2 million by closing some housing areas at the county jail, which costs $121 million to run. He has arranged a photo opportunity for local TV news cameras at the jail this morning to tout the savings.
In case you’re keeping score with the sheriff’s budget book at home, here are the numbers and dates they went into effect:
- Mini 1 was closed along with its 96 beds on Jan. 28, 2008.
- B-Barracks and its 197 beds were closed March 31.
- Annex 1, with its 116 beds shuttered July 20.
The one closing this year was the Female Security Center, which used to hold 127 beds.
By shutting down these areas of the jail, the sheriff was able to cut 51 positions, saving $4.2 million.
Coats said further consolidation has allowed him to eliminate two captains, three lieutenants and five sergeant positions.
4 Comments
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Holy smokes. Is he really expecting to have a job come re-election time? I wonder what his constituents think of all this.
February 27th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Don’t you think people are fairly stupid, and they’ll forget by re-election time? As long as there’s some celeb-reality excitement going on, they won’t remember a thing.
Sadly.
March 13th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Wow, that’s just stupid. How do people like this get to the top anyway???
May 1st, 2009 at 9:30 pm
[...] Stockton PD is not alone. I’ve detailed before how agencies like the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Department have laid off law enforcement officers, and how the state of Florida has dumped hundreds of probation [...]