The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Chris Nocco

Pasco Sheriff launches unit to help mentally ill

By

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is launching a new unit aimed to better serve the needs of people facing significant mental health issues.

The new unit — called the Mental Health and Threat Assessment Team (MHTAT) — will feature six deputies, two caseworkers, a clinical social worker, a sergeant and a lieutenant, who will collaborate with local behavioral health providers to provide tailored, long-term programs for citizens in need.

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office is launching a new unit to better serve the needs of local citizens facing significant mental health issues. The Mental Health and Threat Assessment Team (MHTAT) will collaborate with local behavioral health partners to provide long-term care and criminal diversion to the county’s Baker Act repeats. (File)

The team’s primary task is to keep tabs on the county’s Baker Act repeats — through a proactive approach that includes frequent visitations, welfare checks, expedited behavioral health resources and criminal justice diversion programs.

An individual struggling with addiction may be referred to outpatient substance abuse treatment, for instance. Or, someone undergoing financial struggles may be referred to Pasco County Human Services and the county’s homeless coalition.

The unit will have partnerships with BayCare Behavioral Health, Chrysalis Health, Novus Medical Detox Center, HCA Florida Hospitals, AdventHealth and others, “working towards a common goal in our community,” Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said.

The program ultimately will put the agency “ahead of the curve” in crime prevention, the sheriff said.

“We see mental health and substance abuse are the two drivers of criminal justice issues in our county. That’s why we’re creating this unit,” Nocco said.

It’s also about crisis mitigation, said Lt. Toni Roach, who will head up the MHTAT unit.

“Everybody has a baseline, and when they start to dip below that baseline we can provide some intervention strategies, connect them with a case manager or whatever other behavioral health resources are in the community that could help them stabilize,” Roach said.

The unit is expected to be up and running by October. It will cost roughly $1.5 million annually.

About 11 percent of the sheriff’s calls for service in 2018 were mental-health related.

That included roughly 3,400 Baker Act reports and more than 2,100 calls involving suicides or suicide attempts.

Of those reports, 503 individuals had multiple interactions with the agency, including some who’ve been Baker Acted as many as four or five times, Nocco said.

The MHTAT will be concentrating on the population who have had multiple interactions with the county, Nocco said. The unit will help divert those people from having to call 911 and thereby free patrol deputies to respond more quickly to urgent or violent calls.

As an example, the sheriff pointed out that, last year alone, one individual with a history of mental illness called county dispatch 124 times.

But, through a personal visit from the sheriff’s office back in May, those calls have stopped, the sheriff said.  “A lot of times they just need to talk to somebody. They just need somebody to help them out.”

“It’s all about connection,” added Roach. “Interacting with anybody is just that communication piece, being able to sit down with somebody and have a conversation with people, to listen to what’s going on, what are their concerns, what are their barriers.”

And, it’s those types of soft skills that will be required for those selected to the 11-person unit.

“It takes a special person to want to be in this unit,” Nocco said. “You want somebody that has that compassion and care. Somebody who says, ‘I’m not just going to be here for an hour, I might be here two to three hours working with somebody.’”

In recent years, the sheriff’s office has placed an emphasis on training law enforcement personnel to respond better to people who are mentally ill.

The office has an eight-hour foundational course in mental health first aid and a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) program held quarterly in Shady Hills. About 50 percent of the agency’s patrol deputies are CIT certified.

Published July 03, 2019

Randy Maggard wins District 38 seat

By

Voters have selected Randy Maggard to become their next representative in District 38 of the Florida House of Representatives.

Maggard, a Republican, received 9,615 votes, or 55.58 percent of the total in the Special Election held on June 18. His opponent Kelly Smith, a Democrat, received 7,684, or 44.42 percent of the vote.

The voter turnout in the contest was 15.24.

The district’s boundaries stretch roughly from East Pasco over to U.S. 41 in Central Pasco.

Maggard fills a vacancy that was created by former Rep. Danny Burgess, who accepted an offer from Gov. Ron DeSantis to become the executive director of the Florida Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

Maggard is a businessman and community leader. He’s served as vice president of Sonny’s Discount Appliances for 30 years, according to campaign materials.

He is a Pasco County native, attended Zephyrhills High School and holds an Associate of Arts degree from Pasco-Hernando Community College (now known as Pasco-Hernando State College).

He has served on the Southwest Water Management Governing Board since 2011, including a stint as  chairman, from 2016 to 2018.

He was chairman of the Republican Party of Pasco from 2006 to 2012.

He was a member of the Coastal River Basin Board, from 2004 to 2008, and was vice chairman on that board from 2008 to 2010.

Maggard lives in Dade City. He’s been married to his wife, Colleen, for 34 years, and they have three children.

In his free time, Maggard enjoys hunting, fishing, ranching and spending time with his family.

Maggard was endorsed by Burgess, whom he is replacing.

He also received endorsements from other widely known Pasco County public office holders, including Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco; Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano; Pasco County Commission Chairman Ron Oakley; Pasco County Commission Vice Chairman Mike Moore; Pasco Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning; and former Speaker of the House Richard Corcoran.

Published June 26, 2019

Pasco Sheriff’s Office gets forensics K-9

By

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office has added another K-9 to its unit of about two dozen — but it’s not the traditional search and seizure police dog frequently utilized by law enforcement agencies.

Instead, this dog, a 3-year-old yellow Labrador named Phi, is paired with a forensics investigator and trained to detect decomposing human remains.

Pasco Sheriff’s Office forensics investigator Heidi Sievers and K-9 partner Phi. Phi is the agency’s new human remains detection dog, believed to be the first of its kind in the Tampa Bay area. (Kevin Weiss)

More commonly known as a human remains detection dog, K-9 Phi ignores live human scent and animal scent as to indicate odors on human remains, whether it be related to crime scenes, old missing persons cases, or natural or man-made disaster events.

Phi is believed to be the only human remains detection/forensics K-9 employed by a law enforcement agency in the Tampa Bay area. He was purchased and trained through donations from service organization Phi Delta Kappa in Odessa.

Pasco Sheriff Cpl. Jimmy Hall heads up the agency’s new forensic K-9 unit.

The unit is modeled after the FBI’s dog scent program, and Hall said it takes the concept of cadaver dogs to a new level in identifying and solving crime scenes.

That’s because Phi and similarly trained dogs don’t just search for bodies. They also identify the presence of trace amounts of human bones, bodily fluids and decomposing material — whether buried underground, underwater, smeared on a car or elsewhere.

“We’re bringing these dogs to search these trace amounts, which is really the difference that’s not being done out there,” Hall said.

Phi has received roughly 12 weeks of in-house operational training. He also gets weekly maintenance training.

In learning to train forensics dogs, Hall and sheriff’s office personnel visited the FBI’s training academy in Virginia.

In essence, forensics dogs like Phi are trained like bomb or drug-sniffing dogs, where they’re rewarded for being able to identify a particular targeted odor, Hall said.

“We saw what they had and how they use the dogs, and got some great ideas from them,” Hall said.

Hall noted during that trip, trained forensics dogs were able to indicate odor on a pre-Civil War gravesite. “I not necessarily would’ve believed that if I wasn’t there watching it myself,” Hall said.

The greatest benefit of a forensics K-9, Hall said, is helping investigators to conduct more thorough evidence gathering outside the realm of a primary crime scene, or where the crime actually occurred.

K-9 Officer Phi undergoes a regular training session with his handler. The K-9 is trained to detect human remains related to crime scenes, old missing persons cases, natural or man-made disasters and more. (Courtesy of Pasco Sheriff’s Office)

The law enforcement explained: “If we’ve got a crime scene at a house, we can deploy the dog starting a block out if we want to, and it’s possible to find evidence for that crime…that we would’ve never come across.

“If you’re going to put 15 to 20 detectives and forensic investigators out to comb an area, they’re limited by sight. We can put this dog down and the odor is going to be much more powerful, and we can cover a larger area with that.”

Phi’s handler, forensics investigator Heidi Sievers, echoed that significance.

“We have only the ability of our sight and also some other technological tools that we have,” said Sievers, who has been partnered with Phi since March. “This is just one more check and balance to make sure that we’re covering the entirety of the scene.”

So far, Phi has been deployed about 20 times by the sheriff’s office and other agencies needing assistance. He’s done three deployments with Sievers.

The dog has been the sheriff’s office for about a year. He previously worked in different capacities with other handlers.

Besides assisting the forensics unit, Phi has also become a welcome addition to the Sievers’ household.

The forensics investigator had never owned a dog before, but Phi quickly developed a bond within her household.

“I have a daughter so she loves him, so it’s been really nice,” Sievers said. “He’s easy, he’s great, low maintenance. He’s very friendly. He just lives to run and work.”

Meanwhile, the sheriff’s office will soon add another human detection K-9 to its unit, for investigator Sue Miller. A third dog of its type is being utilized by an agency volunteer, as well.

As well as assisting with crime solving, the agency believes the forensic K-9 unit will eventually help in another area.

“This is something we know will also add to our recruitment,” Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said. “The fact that people want this opportunity to say, ‘Hey, I’m going to be able to have a canine,’ that is very unique.”

Published June 19, 2019

Can human connection heal?

By

Austin Eubanks remembered with clarity the tragic day that forever changed his life, and, ultimately claimed it.

His best friend was killed instantly in front of him.

Then Eubanks was shot twice, in the hand and knee.

Eubanks was just 17 years old when he experienced and survived the massacre inside the library of Columbine High School on April 20, 1999.

Columbine shooting survivor Austin Eubanks was the keynote speaker at the annual ‘Strengthening Our Communities Conference on Mental Health and Drug Prevention’ in Wesley Chapel. He passed away just days later at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, at age 37. (Courtesy of AustinEubanks.com)

“I remember seeing my hand and knowing that I had been shot, but I couldn’t feel it,” Eubanks recalled. “I couldn’t connect to the emotion of it, or the physical pain of it, because I wasn’t present in my own body.”

That traumatic experience as a teen, as a survivor in the Columbine school shooting, was the catalyst to Eubanks’ painful journey through addiction and eventually into long-term recovery.

Eubanks put it like this: “I will never be the person I was on the morning of April 20, 1999. That boy did not walk out of the library that day. He was altered, forever.”

Eubanks shared his personal story as the keynote speaker at the annual “Strengthening Our Communities Conference on Mental Health and Drug Prevention,” held May 14 at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel.

The conference, hosted by Pasco County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) and Baycare Behavioral Health, is designed to increase public awareness and inspire action on mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Just a few days after the conference, the speaker was found dead from a suspected drug overdose at his home in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. He was 37.

In a statement, his family said Eubanks “lost the battle with the very disease he fought so hard to help others face. Helping to build a community of support is what meant the most to Austin, and we plan to continue his work.”

ASAP also expressed its sympathy on Eubanks’ passing in a released statement: “We extend our thoughts and prayers to Austin’s family and friends. Although he has passed too early, his voice will echo in our memories and actions forever.”

Before his untimely death, Eubanks addressed a crowd of nearly 500 people, to discuss the intersection of trauma, mental illness and addiction.

‘An emotional robot’
Shortly after the school shooting, Eubanks was prescribed opiates, benzodiazepines and stimulants for his physical injuries. He soon found the drugs helped him in other ways.

“From the moment I was medicated, that emotion (from Columbine) completely shut off. It was like somebody turned off a faucet,” Eubanks explained.

Nearly 500 people attended the annual ‘Strengthening Our Communities Conference on Mental Health and Drug Prevention,’ hosted by Pasco County Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention (ASAP) and Baycare Behavioral Health. Columbine school shooting survivor Austin Eubanks was the keynote speaker at the May 14 event, at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel. (Kevin Weiss)

“I learned very quickly how to turn myself into an emotional robot, with the combination of those three substances. I thought that I had found the answer, I never had to feel anything. I was taught how to seek the fast road to relief.”

Years later, at the height of his addiction, Eubanks said he was using upwards of 400 milligrams of the painkiller OxyContin per day, plus a host of other recreational drugs.

His drug of choice, he admitted, was “just more.”

Emotional healing through human connection
After a decade more of undergoing a cycle of addiction and relapse, Eubanks said he finally received the help he needed, at a long-term treatment center in Denver that accepted him free of charge.

It’s there he found the prescription he needed most: authentic human connection.

The treatment center helped him navigate the stages of grief through meaningful, personal relationships with others with similar, lived experiences.

“With emotional pain, in order to heal it, you have to feel it. It is essential to recovery,” Eubanks said.

He added: “What is so essential for emotional healing for all of us, is relying on others from a place of vulnerability and authenticity and transparency.”

The environment also provided him with structure and accountability, too, he said.

Eubanks said, “I had to finally admit that I knew nothing, and I had to trust somebody else enough to believe that they did, and I did everything that they told me to for long enough to where it became a pattern.”

Eubanks explained that after Columbine he didn’t return to school for his senior year, instead relied on a private tutor from home in order to graduate. The decision isolated himself from others, leaving him to rely on substances to cope with his emotional pain.

“I withdrew from human connection entirely. If you can create a better petri dish for addiction, I don’t know what it is,” the speaker said.

“I missed out on a lot of the collaborative, connected healing that many of my classmates experienced in our senior year, because I withdrew from that community entirely.”

Prevention and rehabilitation reforms needed
Eubanks discussed his ideas to combat the nation’s addiction crisis, which he blamed partly on increased accessibility, acceptability and toxicity of various substances.

The speaker called for greater efforts in implementing more systems of prevention and rehabilitation to curtail the demand for drugs.

He challenged the medical community to do a better job of integrating physical health and mental health. He also challenged the education community to put more focus on nurturing emotional intelligence in early childhood education, to increase the ability to relate to other people.

Eubanks then called for greater accessibility to long-term treatment for those who cannot afford its services. He also said the criminal justice system needs to place more emphasis on rehabilitation programs, specifically, by providing inmates a therapeutic continuum of care and teaching them pro-social behaviors.

Said Eubanks, “Drugs are always going to exist. We cannot eradicate these issues by combating them on the supply side. We have to curtail the demand.”

In addition to Eubanks, the conference featured presentations from Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco; Gail Ryder, Baycare Health Systems vice president of behavioral health; and Roderick Cunningham, Drug Enforcement Agency outreach program manager.

There was also a series of breakout sessions that focused on substance abuse prevention and recovery efforts, among other topics.

Published May 29, 2019

Florida aims to stop motorists from texting while driving

By

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign into law a measure that would allow tickets to be issued to motorists for texting while driving — as a primary offense.

The current law considers texting while driving a secondary offense — meaning motorists can only be cited for the offense, if they are initially pulled over for another violation.

A new Florida statute would constitute texting while driving as a primary offense. Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to sign the measure into law, and if he does, it will take effect on July 1. (Christine Holtzman)

The Florida House passed a bill on April 29 to limit distracted drivers, several days after the Senate version of the bill was passed.

“We’ve been very happy with the Legislature passing the bill,” said Mark Jenkins, spokesman for the American Automobile Association (AAA). “This shows that lawmakers are dedicated to making the road safer and taking distracted driving very seriously.”

Jenkins said a driver is eight times more likely to be involved in an accident when texting.

If DeSantis signs the measure, motorists will be able to text while stationary, such as at a stoplight, and will be able use their phones for navigation purposes.

Talking on the phone will not be generally prohibited for drivers, but there will be hands-free areas, such as school or work zones. In these areas, devices such as Bluetooth would be acceptable.

In Pasco County, eight citations and 13 warnings regarding texting on the road were issued last year.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco expressed his approval for the bill, mentioning several key lawmakers who sponsored it.

“We thank Sen. (Wilton) Simpson and Rep. (Chris) Sprowls for their leadership in addressing the important issue of distracted driving. We believe this bill will help keep our citizens safe and look forward to it becoming law in the near future,” Nocco said, in a statement.

Florida is set to  join 43 states that have made texting while driving a primary offense.

Once signed by the governor, the law would go into effect on July 1.

The hands-free requirement while talking in zones would take effect on Jan. 1, 2020, following a three-month warning period.

Published May 08, 2019

Sheriff’s Office adds innovative fitness program

By

The Land O’ Lakes Detention Center has been outfitted with a state-of-the-art, 24-hour fitness facility equipped with top-of-the-line resistance machines, exercise bikes, ski machines, adjustable weights, kettlebells, plyometric boxes, battling ropes, medicine balls and more.

Known as the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office Resilience Center, it’s the initial phase of the agency’s newly formed Human Performance Program.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco unveiled the agency’s new Resilience Center and Human Performance Program at the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center, during a March 18 news conference. The state-of-the-art, 24-hour fitness facility is equipped with top-of-the-line resistance machines, exercise bikes, ski machines, adjustable weights, kettlebells, plyometric boxes, battling ropes, medicine balls and more. The sheriff said the program gives the agency ‘the best tools possible to be successful.’ (Kevin Weiss)

The program aims to improve law enforcement officers’ career longevity, injury prevention and overall fitness for on-the-job tasks.

The Resilience Center opened last month in partnership with EXOS, a worldwide human performance company that primarily services professional athletes, the military and corporations.

The Human Performance Program is eventually expected to staff dietitians, physical therapists, a sports psychologist, and strength and conditioning coaches, to better address the specific needs of members.

The sheriff’s office is using grant money to fund the wellness program, which is free to its members. It is believed to be the first time EXOS has partnered with a law enforcement agency.

At the Resilience Center,  the physical training regimen utilizes “functional techniques,” such as Olympic lifts and quick, explosive movements, said Chris Jacquard, who’s contracted by EXOS to serve as the sheriff’s office human performance advisor.

In other words, it’s not the conventional workout routine you’d find at your local gym, whether it be jogging on the treadmill or throwing up some weights.

Pasco Sheriff’s Office deputy trainees go through workouts at the agency’s new Resilience Center at the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center. The Resilience Center is one aspect of the agency’s new Human Performance Program that aims to improve law enforcement officers’ career longevity, injury prevention and overall fitness for on-the-job tasks.

Instead, many of the prescribed workouts are designed to best translate to the everyday environment of a law enforcement officer, said Jacquard, who offers one-on-one wellness consultations and organizes group trainings for the agency at the Resilience Center.

That includes, for instance, exercises that strengthen lower backs and lower legs — important for deputies who wear burdensome gun belts and bulletproof vests throughout the course of a 12-hour shift.

Jacquard explained of the fitness program: “Running 5 miles, you’re not going to do that on the job (as a law enforcement officer). You’re going to sprint a quarter-mile as fast as you can and then non-lethally subdue a suspect. How do we train for that type of task? That’s really what we’re going to try to mirror in our approach.”

The Resilience Center also features a body composition scanner, so users can track muscle development, fat levels and so on.

Jacquard noted the machine “is definitely not cheap,” but “mirrors the investment of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office in terms of the health and well-being of their members.”

Pasco Sheriff’s Office Human Performance Advisor Chris Jacquard, pictured right, coaches a deputy trainee on the proper execution of a split squat at the agency’s new Resilience Center at the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center. The Resilience Center opened last month in partnership with EXOS, a worldwide human performance company that primarily services professional athletes, the military and corporations.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said the Resilience Center and Human Performance Program is all about giving the agency “the best tools possible to be successful.”

Said Nocco, “This is a physical job. You know, we’re expected to jump over fences, to chase people down, to run in somewhere to save somebody, have to get into a fight sometimes, and so, we have to be in the top physical performance, so this is going to help our deputies in the fact that we’ll be in a better performance to go out there and save people.”

He continued, “When you have a good regimen, when you’re exercising the right way, sleeping the right way, drinking plenty of water, and physically exercising, you’re performing at a much higher level.”

The sheriff said about a quarter of the agency has already begun to utilize EXOS programming and the Resilience Center in the short time it’s been around.

It’s been well-received thus far.

“The reaction we’re getting is they’re very excited about it,” Nocco said. “As the word spreads, as success spreads, people want to get involved in this.”

“We’re seeing a lot of interest,” Jacquard added. “The deputies, for the most part, have been highly receptive. You look at an opportunity to perform better, and accessing resources like this that (you) wouldn’t typically see in a civilian setting. We’ve had a lot of participation in the program so far and we’ve really only been around for four weeks.”

The Resilience Center was instituted at the Land O’ Lakes jail, Nocco said, because of its centralized location in the county and because it features “the largest amount of members we have at the sheriff’s office congregated at one place.”

The agency, however, plans to add similar training facilities and related wellness programming to its other district offices in Dade City, Trinity and New Port Richey.

Published March 27, 2019

New K-9 training complex breaks ground

By

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office soon will have a full-fledged facility dedicated to the tactical training of its K-9 units.

Ground was broken during a Nov. 15 ceremony for the Helen A. Rich K9 Complex — as part of the larger forensics research and training center project in Land O’ Lakes known as FIRST, an acronym for Florida’s Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics.

Located at the intersection of Lucy Dobies Road and Central Boulevard off U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes, the K9 Complex is scheduled to have:

  • A 10,000-square-foot indoor training facility
  • A veterinary science center
  • A kennel for 40 dogs
  • An outdoor obstacle course and agility field
  • A rubble pile for search and rescue training

The K9 Complex will be completed in phases, with some features finished as soon as late 2019, according to Pasco Sheriff’s Capt. Justin Ross, who is overseeing the project.

A Nov. 15 groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of construction for the Helen A. Rich K9 Complex. The $5 million project is expected to be complete in phases, beginning in fall 2019. (Kevin Weiss)

The project alone is expected to cost about $5 million, not including other FIRST facilities, according to the sheriff’s office.

In addition to teaching standard K-9 tactics, the training grounds will be used to help develop advanced K-9 techniques in airport security, explosives and drug detection, and search and recovery.

It will also include an academia-based research component focused on the health and wellness of working and retired police dogs.

“It’s kind of that synergistic partnership between researchers and practitioners, where we want them to really improve upon the use of working dogs and dog safety,” Ross explained.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco described the forthcoming K-9 project as “special” and “absolutely incredible.”

Nocco explained: “It’s really about finding ways to make us safer, make our communities safer, and it’s about building a legacy for the next generation.

“One day somebody will be saved because of the training that goes on there (at the complex),” he predicted.

Besides the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, the K-9 facilities will also be used by other local and regional law enforcement agencies. “We want to make sure we bring as many people as we can for the K-9s,” the sheriff said.

The K9 Complex is named after Wrigley gum heiress and Odessa resident Helen Rich, who donated more than $480,000 toward the construction of the project, according to the sheriff’s office.

In a brief statement at the ceremony, Rich said the gift was a “no-brainer” because the project goes to support both dogs and law enforcement.

“Why did I do it? Because God told me to. That’s it,” the 70-year-old Rich said, of the donation.

Ground was broken in September on the entire FIRST campus.

A resource for universities, forensic scientists and law enforcement in the entire state, FIRST will serve as an aid to improve crime scene operations and investigations in the realm of homicides, missing persons cases and so on.

At its build out, the multiple-building forensics research center campus will have a laboratory, classrooms, a morgue and evidence storage space, where work will be done in the fields of legal medicine, forensic intelligence, aviation reconstruction and cyber forensics.

There’s also potential for training in the use of robotics, drones and data processing in the arena of public safety and workforce training, among other fields.

The FIRST campus received $4.3 million in state funds this year. It is expected to also be complete in late 2019.

Published November 21, 2018

Early numbers reveal voters are engaged for midterms

By

Early numbers reveal that Pasco County voters are enthusiastic about midterm elections, said Pasco County Supervisor of Elections Brian Corley.

“Voters are definitely more engaged this time, for a midterm, than we’ve seen in some time,” he said.

“As we approach the general (election), it’s a very, very long ballot, with a lot of amendments on it, but so far, I’ve got to tell you, the turnout has been phenomenal,” Corley said in an Oct. 29 interview.

While Election Day is Nov. 6, many voters are choosing to vote early, he said.

Pasco has already surpassed the total Vote By Mail ballots cast in the 2014 general, which was slightly more than 46,000, and it is already over 52,480. “We’re not done, obviously. So, that’s going to be up substantially,” he said.

Corley also noted that early voting has been expanded in Pasco County because there was an obvious need.

“With early voting, we’re right now, as I’m talking to you, at a little more than 26,000 and the total early votes cast in the 2014 general was 32,000,” he said.

Corley also offered assurances that there are plans in place to address any security issues — cyber or physical — that could arise.

“We have worked very closely with Sheriff (Chris) Nocco and his people, along with the county’s emergency management folks,” he said.

As voters head to the polls, Corley advised: “Be voter ready. Make sure your address is up to date. Study the amendments ahead of time, so you’ll know ahead of time, yes or no.”

Whatever method voters choose — whether voting early or on Election Day, they have plenty of decisions to make.

They’ll be deciding on races and issues, ranging from who will be Florida’s representatives in Congress, to who will occupy the state’s governor’s mansion, to who will make local decisions affecting everything from job creation, to road congestion, to the quality of local schools.

Pasco and Hillsborough voters also will decide the outcome of 12 constitutional amendments or revisions.

In Pasco, voters also will decide the fate of four general obligation issues to pay for a jail expansion, additional fire protection, enhanced libraries and enhanced parks. The bonds would be repaid through increased property taxes.

In Hillsborough, voters will decide the fate of a referendum to raise the local sales tax to support transportation improvements; and, another referendum to raise the local sales tax to support air conditioning and other capital improvements in public schools.

Here’s a recap of key races on the 2018 ballot within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area; a listing of local early polling places; and a reminder of what voters should bring with them to the polls.

Key races
Federal
U.S. Senate: Rick Scott vs. Bill Nelson

U.S. Rep. District 12: Gus Bilirakis vs. Chris Hunter

State
Governor: Ron DeSantis vs. Andrew Gillum

Attorney General: Ashley Moody vs. Sean Shaw

Chief Financial Officer: Jimmy Petronis vs. Jeremy Ring

Commissioner of Agriculture: Matt Caldwell vs. Nicole ‘Nikki’ Fried

State Senate District 20: Kathy Lewis vs. Tom Lee

State Senate District 10: Michael Cottrell vs. Wilton Simpson

State Representative District 37: Tammy Garcia vs. Ardian Zika

State Representative District 38: Danny Burgess vs. David “TK” Hayes

State Representative, District 64: James Grant vs. Jessica Harrington

Local
Pasco
Pasco County Commission

District 2: Mike Moore vs. Kelly Smith

District 4: Mike Wells vs. Brandi Geoit

Pasco School Board

District 5: Megan Harding vs. Tara M. O’Connor

Hillsborough
Hillsborough County Commission

District 5: Victor Crist vs. Mariella Smith

District 7: Todd Marks vs. Kimberly Overman

Hillsborough School Board
District 1

William Henry Person vs. Steve Cona

District 6

Karen Perez vs. Henry “Shake” Washington

Sheriff: Chad Chronister vs. Gary Pruitt

Early Voting Places (located within The Laker/Lutz News coverage area)

Pasco County: Through Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

  • East Pasco Government Center, Lobby, 14326 Sixth St., Dade City
  • Alice Hall Community Center, 36116 Fifth Ave., Zephyrhills
  • New River Branch Library, 34043 State Road 54, Wesley Chapel
  • Florida Hospital Center Ice, 3173 Cypress Ridge Blvd., Wesley Chapel
  • Land O’ Lakes Branch Library, 2818 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes
  • Utilities Administration Building, 19420 Central Blvd., Land O’ Lakes

Hillsborough County: Through Nov. 4,  7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

  • Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library, 2902 W. Bearss Ave., Tampa
  • Keystone Recreation Center, 17928 Gunn Highway, Odessa
  • New Tampa Regional Library, 10001 Cross Creek Blvd., Tampa

What Voters Should Bring
Florida law requires voters to present both signature and photo identification. This can be achieved with one form of identification, such as a Florida driver license or U.S. Passport, or two separate forms of identification, such as a membership card with your photo and second form of identification with your signature. If you don’t bring your ID, you may vote a provisional ballot.

For more information, visit PascoVotes.com and VoteHillsborough.org.

Published October 31, 2018

Forensics research center expected to break new ground

By

Construction is now underway in Land O’ Lakes on a forensics and training facility that will offer a collaborative resource for universities, forensic scientists and law enforcement.

Ground was broken during a Sept. 19 ceremony for the K9 Tactical Center/Florida’s Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics, or F.I.R.S.T for short.

F.I.R.S.T will be a resource for universities, forensic scientists and law enforcement in the entire state. It will serve as an aid to improve crime scene operations and investigations in the realm of homicides, missing persons cases and so on. The $4.3 million project is expected to be complete in late 2019. (Courtesy of Pasco County Sheriff’s Office)

The complex will be next to the Adam Kennedy Memorial Forensics Field, otherwise known as the “body farm” that sits on 5 acres next to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center, off U.S. 41.

The forensics research and training center will strive to improve crime scene operations and investigations in the realm of homicides, missing persons cases and so on.

It will include a laboratory for research and forensic casework, classrooms, a morgue and evidence storage.

The educational focus will be on forensics, anthropology, geochemistry, legal medicine, forensic intelligence, aviation reconstruction and cyber forensics.

Technology, too, will play a major role in the research, including virtual autopsies with 3-D scanning and chemical isotope analysis.

The K-9 portion of the project, meanwhile, will be the first time Pasco has had a dedicated facility for tactical training for the K-9 unit, the Pasco Unified SWAT team and sheriff’s deputies.

When completed, the F.I.R.S.T campus also will house training facilities in the arenas of cybersecurity and unmanned vehicles.

The $4.3 million state-funded project is expected to be complete by late 2019.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco said the campus — particularly the forensic anthropology “body farm” fields  —  will have international draw, because of the location’s subtropical climate.

The sheriff also said the facility overall will advance national policies for public safety, in the realm of forensics, K-9 tactics, crisis management, design thinking and so on.

“We’re going to be training people from all over the country,” Nocco said. “This is not about the Pasco Sheriff’s Office. This is about all of us. This is about saving lives and making our community better.”

A Sept. 19 groundbreaking ceremony was held for the K9 Tactical Center/Florida’s Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics, or F.I.R.S.T. The campus will be adjacent to the Adam Kennedy Memorial Forensics Field, otherwise known as the ‘body farm,’ that now sits on five acres of land next to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center, off U.S. 41. (Kevin Weiss)

He added: “The amazing thing is, as we keep building this out and as we break ground, more partners keep coming on and on, and we keep expanding.”

Once complete, the forensics center will be the first in Florida, and only the seventh in the nation.

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville started the first forensic training and research center in the 1970s. Other facilities are at Western Carolina University, Sam Houston State University, Texas State University in Carbondale, Southern Illinois University and Colorado Mesa University.

A one-stop resource
But, F.I.R.S.T is touted as the first true cooperative effort between academia and practitioners.

Academic partners include the University of South Florida, University of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University and Pasco-Hernando State College, among others.

The project already has some Florida-based forensics scholars buzzing.

Dr. Phoebe Stubblefield is a forensic anthropologist and research assistant scientist at the C.A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Florida, in Gainesville.

For her, F.I.R.S.T means having a one-stop resource for university-based forensic labs from all across the state.

“Why should we not work together? First, it gives us a chance to share our ideas between ourselves. It’ll produce more research for the whole state,” said Stubblefield, who plans to bring her graduate students to the campus “on a cyclical basis.”

Stubblefield also noted the forensics center will facilitate long-term studies on body decomposition rates in subtropical climates, something she said is presently “not well researched.”

“That whole overall decomposition area — we’re still bringing the picture together,” Stubblefield said. “I know (F.I.R.S.T) will help with research, because there’s just not enough data.”

The possibilities also excite Dr. Heather Walsh-Haney, an associate professor who chairs the Department of Justice Studies at Florida Gulf Coast University, in Fort Myers.

The K9 Tactical Center/Florida’s Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics is the first of its kind in Florida, and only the seventh in the nation. The campus is touted as the first true collaborative effort between academia and practitioners.(Courtesy of the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office)

Walsh-Haney has been studying forensic anthropology for 21 years. She gets called upon to help solve anywhere between 80 to 110 cases every year across the state.

She, like Stubblefield, stressed the need for more comprehensive studies on body decomposition rates within subtropical conditions, for crime-solving and death investigation purposes: “It doesn’t take a neurosurgeon to realize our temperatures are hotter, we have different animal scavenging habits, our plants are different and our soils are different.”

Once F.I.R.S.T is in operation, she and her group of graduate students plan to visit on a bi-weekly basis.

Aside from conducting forensic research studies and experiments, she said they’ll also assist detectives and other law enforcement officials on an assortment of hot and cold cases.

The complex, she said, “highlights the fact that we have to have community involvement in order to solve cases.”

She added: “The only way we can catch the folks who perpetrate these crimes is through science and the collaboration with law enforcement.

“This facility here, smack dab in the center (of Florida), is a wonderful location for scientists and law enforcement from the south and north to come here and train.”

Meantime, local officials believe F.I.R.S.T will be an economic driver for the county.

Bill Cronin, president/CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, who was present at the groundbreaking ceremony, stated F.I.R.S.T will have an economic impact to the county of at least $7.8 million in its first year, with a recurring impact of $2.8 million each year “thanks to the hundreds of visitors that are going to come here and train.”

Furthermore, he noted the facility will attract other forensics-related businesses and organizations to Pasco, possibly along U.S. 41.

“This particular location will help us activate the part of U.S. 41 that’s been fairly difficult for us to draw business into,” he said, “and it takes what was an otherwise non-producing government-owned site and creates a real asset for economic development.”

Published October 3, 2018

New forensics research center expected to boost local economy

By

Officials are expected to gather together this week to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the K9 Tactical Center/Forensic Institute for Research, Security and Tactics in Land O’ Lakes.

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco is predicting that beyond its other benefits, the new forensics center also will be an economic driver — having wide-ranging impacts on the county as whole, and Land O’ Lakes, in particular.

“This is one of those things that is going to put us on the map. This is one of those things that will define us,” Nocco said, during a recent Pasco County Commission meeting.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco

“That cadaver field is actually the thing that’s drawing everybody in,” Nocco said, but as it attracts widespread interest — it also is creating many new opportunities for public safety, economic development and academics.

The project has been a true collaboration between the county, the Sheriff’s Office, the Pasco Economic Development Council, academic groups, local chambers of commerce and others, Nocco said.

The sheriff said Bill Cronin, president/CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Corporation, has played an instrumental role.

“He has been unbelievable, getting us connected with businesses and people who are interested in coming to Pasco,” Nocco said.

Businesses with an interest in the cadaver field, include medical, companies, data companies, forensics companies, private military companies and others, he said.

“People are recognizing that they want to be a part of this,” he said.

Connerton’s proximity to the project is a plus because it has both housing and commercial components, Nocco noted.

“Everything right there is going to get bigger,” he said.

“There are students coming from other universities, graduates and post-grad students that are coming and want to live here as they do their work,” Nocco said.

The forensics research center is expected to offer a wide range of training sessions for local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

“The FBI evidence response team is already talking about coming down to train with us. The border patrol, the coast guard, NCIS,” Nocco said. “They recognize that this is something unique.”

The training opportunities will boost Pasco’s economy, with travelers staying at local hotels, the sheriff said.

His department has been reaching out to partners in academia, to explore possibilities.

“The unique part about this is that we’re the only subtropical environment and tropical environment that this training goes on in,” he said. He believes that people from Central America, South America and the Caribbean would be among those interested in training at this facility.

There’s also potential for training in the use of robotics, drones and data processing in the arena of public safety and workforce training.

“Information is the gold of the future. These are the things we want to train our students for now, so in the future they’ll be trained for better jobs and bringing in jobs to our community,” Nocco said.

Pasco Sheriff’s Capt. Justin Ross said the center’s training will be taking a forward-focused view.

Its mission statement is “Creating safer communities by transforming public safety through research, education and innovation.”

“It’s one thing to come up with a nice, new, nifty shiny idea,” Ross said.

“Everybody understands that in public safety, we’re dealing with matters of life and death. If we’re going to come up and innovate and lead the way, we need to make sure that those things are going to be effective, that they will work,” he added.

The center will be a collaboration between academia and practitioners, he said.

County Commissioners expressed enthusiasm for the venture.

Commissioners Mike Moore, Ron Oakley and Jack Mariano said they believe the project will create new economic opportunities in Pasco.

Commission Chairman Mike Wells put it like this: “This is a perfect example of everybody coming together for the betterment of our region and the county.

“It’s going to save lives. It’s going to create jobs,” Wells said.

The economic development council’s Cronin put it this way: “It (the research center) further activates that corridor on 41, where we’ve got shallow lots and a road that continues to widen. “These businesses just need to be next to them.

“It helps us in that area where traditionally it was difficult for us to get businesses up in that area.”

Commissioner Kathryn Starkey expects this project to be a catalyst for change in Land O’ Lakes.

“I think (U.S.) 41, in 10 years, is going to look so different,” Starkey said.

Published September 19, 2018