Hernando County, Florida Sheriff's Office

Infobox Police Department
name = Hernando County Sheriff's Office

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jurisdiction = County
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sheriff = Richard B. Nugent
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supervisor =

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is an accredited law enforcement agency responsible for Hernando County, Florida. The current Sheriff is Richard B. Nugent, who was elected in November 2000.

Organization

The HCSO is divided into three bureaus: Administration, Services, and Operations. Each bureau contains multiple divisions and sections pertinent to their functions and responsibilities. They are typically commanded by a Major, except for the Administration Bureau which is headed by the Sheriff and Chief Deputy.

Administration Bureau

The Administration Bureau is responsible for all internal affairs including (although not limited to):
* Fiscal Affairs
* Technical services (ensuring the operation of the Sheriff Office's computer network, including the Computer-Assisted Dispatch system)
* Legal services
* Office of Professional Standards

ervices Bureau

The Services Bureau mainly consists of the:
* Community/Personnel Services Division
* Fleet Management
* Judicial Services Division, which provides security for the Hernando County Courthouse located in Brooksville, Florida
* and the Information Services Division
** Central Records
** 9-1-1 Communications

Operations Bureau

The Operations Bureau is the heart of the HCSO, containing:
* Patrol Division
** K-9
** SWAT
** Traffic Enforcement
** Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) Unit
* Operations Support (Aviation & Marine)
* Vice & Narcotics
* Crime Analysis
* Major Cases Section
** Criminal Investigations Division
** Forensics/Crime Scene Unit
** Victim Advocate
* Selective Enforcement Unitand other aspects of police work.

COPPS, STARCOM, and Patrol Districts

Like many other law enforcement agencies around the country, the HCSO has its own Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving (COPPS) program. The COPPS program is designed to improve law enforcement relations with the community, through the development and facilitation of programs and organizations which address the community's needs and issues. The COPPS initiative encourages deputies to take a "problem solving" approach to their cases (as opposed to an "incident driven" one), expanding their influence into a wide range of quality of life issues.

The Sheriff's Tracking Accountability and Responsiveness to Crime Oppression Management (STARCOM) program is based on the successful implementation of CompStat by the New York City Police Department in 1994. STARCOM furthers the goal of COPPS through statistical analysis of criminal trends to identify crime patterns, and using this data to raise community awareness. Sheriff Richard Nugent introduced STARCOM on February 3, 2003, and restructured the Operations Bureau to better suit the model. The implementation of STARCOM also called for the reorganization of Hernando County into three Districts (1-3), which are further divided into Zones. Zone 9, while technically under the jurisdiction of District 3, is actually the territory of the Brooksville City Police Department. Refer to the map for more districting information.

Air Support Units

Public Federal Aviation Administration records reveal that the Sheriff's Office currently has two helicopters registered to it under the N-numbers [http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=78HC N78HC] and [http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/NNumSQL.asp?NNumbertxt=53HC N53HC] .

N78HC is a McDonnell Douglas 520 NOTAR (No Tail Rotor) helicopter (Serial Number: LN-065). The MD-520N is popular with law enforcement agencies for its maneuverability and top speed of 150 knots. The aircraft has a maximum range of 300 miles and can remain airborne for 2 hours and 30 minutes. LN-065 was built in 1994, and acquired by the HCSO on March 31, 1995.

The air support facility is located at the [http://www.airnav.com/airport/KBKV Hernando County Airport] .

Honor Roll

*Deputy Sheriff Lonnie C. Coburn - End of Watch: February 21, 1978
*Deputy Sheriff Michael Stegner - End of Watch: April 13, 2007

ee also

*List of law enforcement agencies in Florida
*List of U.S. state and local law enforcement agencies
*Sheriff (Florida)
*Hernando County, Florida

External links

* [http://www.hcso.hernando.fl.us/ Hernando County Sheriff's Office (official site)]
* [http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/links/FlaSheriff.html FDLE List of Sheriffs]
* [http://www.odmp.org/ The Officer Down Memorial Page]
* [http://www.flaccreditation.org/ Committee for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc.]
* [http://www.hernandoliving.com/scanner.shtml Online Scanner] - Police, rescue and county coverage of Hernando County provided by HernandoLiving.com, with a list of 10- and Signal codes.