Development, population growth tax Fort Pierce police; what's being done to address it?

FORT PIERCE — Population growth and development within the city limits — particularly in the Okeechobee and Jenkins roads areas — are straining the police department with increasing calls for service.

But the Fort Pierce Police Department is taking steps to address it, including hiring officers and working to improve call response times.

“It’s starting to take a toll on the officers because of the volume of calls that they are taking over the course of a week,” Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney said in a presentation to the city commission this summer.

Police reported 86,855 calls for service last year. Four years ago in 2018 they answered 71,112 calls for service, records show. Calls for service can be anything from a burglary to a missing child or any request for assistance, police said.

The population last year in Fort Pierce was estimated at 48,305, up from 41,590 in 2010, according to U.S. Census statistics.

Hobley-Burney and Acting Lt. David Cuti noted particular growth in the Okeechobee and Jenkins roads areas.

“The biggest concern that I have is the strain of the Okeechobee corridor right now, more than anything else in the city,” Cuti said at the summer meeting. “Okeechobee Road, Jenkins Road is exploding with warehouses.”

'... It takes hours and it takes patrol'

Hobley-Burney said earlier this month that steps are being taken to improve police response time to calls for service in the Okeechobee corridor, including looking for space for an additional police substation in that area. She hopes that will be in place before the end of the year.

“We're trying to find something that's more convenient in that area that can better serve the officers, as well as our public,” Hobley-Burney said.

She said three additional officers (from the current 138 to 141) have been allotted in the upcoming budget, and efforts to redesign districts are being made to improve response times.

There are two districts, each with five patrol zones. Hobley-Burney said the agency is trying to have three districts, and redesign the size of the zones police will patrol.

“We're doing that for more efficiency, and to reduce response time," she said. "So this is all a part of the plan.”

Cuti, a 25-year veteran, said driving west on Okeechobee Road and seeing the buildings and hotels is “wonderful.”

“But ... for every one mega gas station that comes in, there's a whole lot of problems that go along with it,” Cuti told city commissioners. “Nothing we can't handle, but ... it does take time. It takes hours and it takes patrol.”

Calls for service in a patrol zone that includes the Okeechobee Road corridor area have increased each year beginning in 2018. Police reported 6,771 calls in 2018, which rose each year since to 9,047 in 2022, records show.

Seventy-five percent of calls in the Okeechobee Road corridor area come from local businesses, with common types including traffic crashes, disturbances, larceny, unwelcome or suspicious persons, false alarms and domestic trouble, police said.

Some of the businesses in that area include Walmart, Wawa and Lowe’s.

More Fort Pierce patrol officers needed

Cuti said he’s excited to see the city thrive, but stressed the importance of keeping pace with personnel.

“As much as I love the growth, we also need the growth as far as patrol officers to make sure that we have our public safety,” Cuti said.

Hobley-Burney said from January 2014 to May of this year, the agency hired more than 130 officers.

“In that timeframe, we lost 128 officers,” Hobley-Burney said. “We have pretty much rehired the entire staff of the Fort Pierce Police Department.”

Among those who departed, 78 left for voluntary reasons; 31 retired; two died and others were fired, resigned under investigation or didn’t meet certain requirements, records show.

Hobley-Burney said the turnover rate has decreased over time, to which she credited the city commission, saying they were supportive.

Starting salary for a Fort Pierce police officer is $50,308, which compares to about $38,000 in 2015 and $42,802 in 2019, police said.

Cuti said additional calls for service cut down on officers’ ability to be proactive in addressing crime.

“We're going call to call to call. My officers are not getting much downtime at all to be proactive,” Cuti said. “We're reacting to crime, we're not preventing crime. So that's a huge problem that I'd like to see resolved quickly, especially with the growth that we're having.”

He said it’s an issue all over the city.

“Right now I'm focusing on the Okeechobee corridor, because that is what is exploding quicker than anything,” Cuti said.

17-year-old missing person case: What's happening now to find Dori Ann Myers of Lakewood Park?

SLC economic development official dies: Jennifer DuBey was 'force to reckon with,' inspiration to others

Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on X @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Development, growth in Okeechobee Road corridor strain police