Sheriff’s Office continuing to pursue special operations in effort to keep community safe
Early this month, while discussing his tentative 2026 fiscal year budget to the Sarasota County Commission, Sheriff Kurt Hoffman noted one slide in the presentation as he said, “This is something that we’re extremely proud of.” Figures illustrated the fact that, as he put it, “Our violent crime is down significantly.”
He stressed to the commissioners, “If you would have told me you could drive [down] violent crime — ‘Part 1’ crime, the way FDLE [the Florida Department of Law Enforcement] categorizes it — … more than 50%” from 2009 to 2020, I would have lost the bet.”
“In the last four years,” he continued, “I’m proud we drove it down another 10%-plus. So, a 62% reduction in violent crime from 2009, essentially, to one full year … of 2024.”
In fact, Hoffman noted, for the first quarter of this calendar year, violent crime dropped another 5%, “compared to first quarter of 2024. So we’re trending in the right direction.”
Those statistics, Hoffman stressed, mean “thousands and thousands of people are not victims of crime. They’re not victims of burglary, of robbery, of theft, aggravated assault … By reducing those numbers, you really are increasing the amount of people who will not have to face victimization.”
Hoffman attributed the trend to an approach to fighting crime that former Sheriff Tom Knight — now a member of the commission — launched after Knight’s first election, in 2008: intelligence-led policing. “We got [the program] up and running in 2010,” Hoffman added. Nonetheless, he continued, “It’s getting harder and harder to drive that [violent crime] number down, but we’ve got some ideas to be able to do it.”
He did underscore the significance of the downturn in Sarasota County crime by showing the commissioners another slide. It listed Florida counties with populations above 250,000 — he said he believes the total is 22, including Sarasota County, based on FDLE statistics. “We are the third safest community [in that group].
“I wish we were a little closer to St. John’s County, Hoffman added as the slide showed that its violent crime rate is the second lowest among those Florida counties. “But we’re going to be in their rear mirror soon,” he said, “if we can get [proposed new] initiatives off the ground.”
Factors related to population growth, necessitating agency attention
As he proceeded with the presentation, Hoffman pointed to another slide that offered examples of why Sarasota County’s population continues to climb.
“Legacy Trail is the one that surprised me,” Hoffman continued.
In 2017, he said, the total number of users was around 220,000. The prediction for ridership this year, he added, is approximately 650,000. “We’re going to have to start focusing more on Legacy Trail …” with bicycles, perhaps, and the Mounted Patrol Division, he noted.
He and his wife ride the Trail quite frequently, Hoffman told the commissioners. “I try to gauge what the safety and security looks like on various parts of the Trail.”
During related remarks, Col. Brian Woodring, the chief deputy of the agency, explained that staff “came up with a four-day operation on the Trail,” which involved multiple units, including the Mounted Patrol.
The officers made contact with more than 225 people, Woodring noted. The focus was “on Trail safety and education,” especially the latter, he added. Officers did make several arrests, including one for DUI and another involving a person for whom a warrant had been issued.
After that operation ended, Woodring continued, the Sheriff’s Office received multiple complaints about a man on the southern portion of the Trail “that was trying to entice and solicit female walkers and biker riders …” Officers initially were unable to identify the suspect, he added. Therefore, the decision was made to put tactical units on the Trail, which finally resulted in an arrest of that man on stalking and other charges. If not for the arrest, Woodring said, “We would be talking about a heinous or more serious crime.
“This man was going to do something serious to a female walker on that Trail,” Woodring pointed out, “so that was an excellent operation.”
In regard to the Mote Science Education Aquarium between the Mall at University Town Center and Nathan Benderson Park, Hoffman told the commissioners, “We sent folks out to do a security analysis [of the facility],” with its opening expected soon.
Mote staff, he said, has provided what he characterized as a “very valid” prediction of more than 700,000 visitors in that facility’s first year of operation. That is “a lot of people on a small piece of real estate up there on University [Parkway] for us to police,” he noted.
Gambling and spring break operations
Yet another special focus of the Sheriff’s Office has been on gambling, Col. Woodring told the commissioners. “Over the last few years, we’ve seen … an influx in our gambling operations.” People who had been running gambling facilities in Charlotte and Manatee counties migrated to Sarasota County, he explained, after those other jurisdictions worked to get rid of that crime.
By early 2024, Woodring said, the Sheriff’s Office had identified about 55 gambling operations in Sarasota. During the investigation, he continued, officers believed they had honed in on the lead gambling operation or, at the least, one that had multiple operations tied to it.
The Sheriff’s Office worked with the Florida Gaming Control Commission on that initiative, he noted. Officers ended up seizing more than 55 gambling machines, along with “illicit software” and U.S. currency.
“If you follow the money,” Woodring pointed out, it’ll lead to organized crime” in other locations. Among those, the investigators learned, were New York, Ohio and Chicago.
About 11 gambling storefronts remain, he said, which the Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate.
In response to a question from Commissioner Knight, Woodring said that most of the gambling operations were located in storefronts, though he mentioned that some had been found in convenience stores and “some of your local VFWs …”
Knight indicated that the commissioners, too, had received complaints about the gambling facilities.
Woodring also talked about the Sheriff’s Office’s annual focus on spring break visitors on Siesta Key, adding, “I have personally been involved in [that operation] since 2000.”
The Sheriff’s Office dedicates significant resources to spring break, he continued. “We were up 11% in crime this year,” he added. Nonetheless, Woodring said, “I personally did not receive one phone call, email or text” about problems on Siesta Key during that period.
Recruitment and retention of personnel
Turning to personnel factors in regard to fighting crime, Hoffman pointed out, “When you give your employees good equipment, when you give your employees good training, when you pay a competitive salary, you can retain your folks, and you’re not chasing people that are leaving and going to other agencies.”
During a recent Sheriff’s Office job fair, he said, more than 70 people showed up, many of them from out of state. “Our reputation precedes us,” Hoffman noted.
In 2024, he added, the agency processed 2,053 applications for employment.
Hoffman showed the commissioners another slide that had details about the numbers of vacancies at sheriff’s offices in counties in the region and those outside Southwest Florida that are comparable in size to Sarasota County. “I don’t know, how, frankly, some of these sheriff’s offices [handle their responsibilities] with some of the numbers that you see up there,” he pointed out. The data was current as of June 20, he said.
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office’s situation with few vacancies underscores the agency’s ability to keep the crime rate low, Hoffman indicated.
Referring to the applicants that the Sheriff’s Office has been seeing, he continued, “These kids want to be involved in their community. … They want to police constitutionally.”
They are different from the typical applicants for law enforcement positions 34 years ago, when he became an officer, Hoffman said. “Fast cars and catching bad guys” sounded exciting, he explained, which drew people to the profession.