Academy Nearing Completion See Cover Story Inside JANUARY 1964 * JANUARY 1964 * Volume 7 * No. 11 PUBLISHED BY THE FLORIDA SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION AND DEDICATED TO THE ADVANCEMENT OF GOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT IN FLORIDA EDITORIAL BOARD Flanders G. Thompson ..........................................Ft. Myers Sheriff of Lee County the Cover John P. Hall ..... ................ .................Green Cove Springs The Story Behind Sheriff of Clay County Don McLeod ..... .......... .......................................Tallahassee Director, Florida Sheriffs Bureau S. D. lDave) Starr ..................................,...,............Orlando Sheriff of Orange County Academy Nearing Completion George Watts ................. .......... ................................Chipley Sheriff of Washington County TALLAHASSEE —Worlunen are putting the finish- ing touches on the building that will house the Florida Law Enforcement Academy —Florida's first state-wide anti-crime campus. Built by the Florida Sheriffs Association as a memori- al to law enforcement officers who have lost their lives in Freedoms Foundation Medal presented to the line of duty, the facilities will include a dormitory, fostering the Florida Sheriffs Association for room. a better understanding of the American Way office space, classroom, dining room and recreation of Life through creation of the Florida Sheriffs Ranch. Boys They will be located on a ten-acre site at the new Tallahassee Municipal Airport and will be built and EDITOR around 000. Carl Stauffer ..... ........................................„„„„.,Tallahassee equipped at a cost of $100, Field Secretary of the Florida Sheriffs Association The academy will be operated on year-'round basis SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: and will offer courses ranging from basic subjects up to Year $2.50 Per advanced training tailored for specialists and lawmen in 12 Issues top command positions. (For more details, see article on MAILING ADDRESS: next page. P. O. Box 1487 ) Tallahassee, Florida ~aes sssb THE FLORIDA SHERIFFS ASSOCIATION DOES NOT SOLICIT AD VERT ISING Academy Offers Training That' s Tops in Quantity and Quality TALLAHASSE —Officers enrolled law enforcement agency are eligible to at the Florida Law Enforcement Acad- attend the Academy. They must also be emy, which opens here February 9, will residents of Florida. get their money's worth —and then Application blanks and full details some. can be obtained by writing to Florida Although they will be paying only Law Enforcement Academy, P. O. Box about $15-a-day tuition (which will in- 1489, Tallahassee. Applications will be clude room and meals), they will receive processed in the order in which they are training that will be exceptionally high received. in both quantity and quality. A "no fooling around" schedule of daytime classes and night assignments will keep them busy from dawn to Only RO Minutes "lights out"; and the instruc- top quality FORT PIERCE —It took only 20 tors will be recognized experts in their (count'em) minutes for Sheriff Roy C. fields. Baker's Department to track down and Some instructors, al- 30 representing recover a stolen pickup truck. most 400 years of combined practical FORT MYERS —A CORDIAL WELCOME —Lee All deputies and other authorities experience in law enforcement, have County Sheriff Flanders G. Thompson (left) were notified immediatel and the vehi- been signed up for the first two-week welcomes Florida Secretary of State Tom Adams which to Carl Howard, a to the Young Democrats luncheon at which the session of In-Service Training, begin- cle, belonged was recovered in record Secretary was the principal speaker. ning February 9. garage employe, time. Sheriff Ray Heisley picked They have been drawn from the FBI, Deputy Sam Little who was held on an auto the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida's up theft Audits Favorable courts, Florida Sheriffs Bureau, State charge. Beverage Department, Police Depart- The accounts and records of the fol- ments, Sheriffs' Departments, The Na- lowing sheriffs were audited by State tional Auto Theft Bureau, The National Auditor Ernest Ellison who commented Board of Fire Underwriters, State Bu- as follows: reau of Narcotics, U. S. Bureau of Im- MANATEE COUNTY SHERIFF J. migration and Naturalization, The In- KENNETH GROSS —Collections of ternal Revenue Service (Intelligence Di- record were properly accounted for. vision), The State Attorney General' s Budgets were properly prepared and Office, the legal profession and the med- followed. Records were well kept. ical profession. GADSDEN COUNTY SHERIFF It is doubtful that an array of law OTHO W. EDWARDS —All collec- enforcement "know how" of dtjs caliber tions of record were accounted for. An- has ever been offered in Florida before nual reports were properly filed. Rec- —and this is only one course out of 20 ords were generally well kept. which are now on the Academy curric- BROWARD COUNTY SHERIFF ulum. ALLEN B. MICHELL —The budget The Academy is a brainchild of the was generally well prepared and fol- Florida Sheriffs Association and was lowed. Resources were adequate to created in 1963 as Florida's first state- cover liabilities of Record. Expenses wide training school for city, county, reported appeared necessary for the state and federal officers at all levels— operation of the office. from rookie to top command. The buildings which will house the Academy are being constructed by the Sharp Memory Sheriffs Association. They will be known ORLANDO —The sharp memory of as the Florida Sheriffs Memorial Train- Orange County Sheriff Dave Starr ing Center, and will be dedicated to all brought the seldom used "habitual of- law enforcement officers who have sac- DADE CITY—KILLED IN PLAFJ E CRASH —Billy law" Smith, Pasco County's fender to bear against a man and rificed their lives in the line of duty. Chief Deputy Sheriff, was killed on December 16 when his private netted him a sentence of five years in The school will be operated by the airplane crashed near Immokalee. He was the state penitentiary. Florida Sheriffs Bureau, a state agency born in Alamo, Ga., March 9, 1928, and Testifying in criminal court, the sher- moved to Plant created by the 1955 Legislature at the City, Fla., with his parents iff recalled investigating a murder request of the Sheriffs Association to when he was six years old. He moved to Pasco County in 1957 and worked on the charge against Otis Sills in 1931. On provide technical assistance to enforce- Zephyrhills Police force for a year before join- the strength of Starr's recollection, ment agencies throughout the state. ing the Pasco County Sheriff's Department. He Judge Warren H. Edwards ruled the Only duly constituted law enforce- became the Chief Deputy under Sheriff Leslie Orlando Negro to be an habitual of- ment officers employed on a full-time Bessenger in 1961, and continued to serve in that capacity when Sheriff Basil Gaines suc- fender. His record showed felonious as- basis by a city, county, state or federal ceeded Bessenger in October, 1963. sault convictions dating to 1931. JANUARY, 1964 Get Involved FORT LAUDERDALE —Echoing the sentiments of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Broward County Sheriff Allen B. Michell declared that "getting in- volved" in criminal investigations and prosecutions when the opportunity pre- sents itself is every citizen's duty. Reluctance to do this, he said, is one of the greatest drawbacks to successful crime prevention. "Too many people hesitate to report petty crimes because of fear of being tagged an 'old fuddy duddy', and more yet refuse to give their names when they report a crime to us, " the Sheriff said. d, In the opinion of enforcement offi- cers, a person who sees a crime but re- fuses to notify the proper authorities is SANFORD —BOYS RANCH GIFTS —T. J. Jarrell, (extreme right) athletic director of Sanford Naval Air Station, turns over to Yolusia County Deputy Sheriff Bill Carlisle (left) and Rexford actually aiding the criminal element. Hayes, Daytona Beach builder, athletic equipment donated by Special Services NAS Sanford, to Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch. The gear includes three boats, basketballs, softballs, and footballs. Pinellas Milestone (Official U. S. Navy photograph. ) CLEARWATER —Pinellas County Sheriff's Department employees are now officially under civil service. "This is something we' ve worked hard for since 1958, Sheriff Don Ge- nung said, when the transition became effective Oct. 4. "It will encourage pro- fessionalism in our department and en- able us to attract higher educated men into our office and to bring up our salaries, especially those now below average, in the future. " Sheriff itluilty CRESTVIEW —Okaloosa County Sheriff Ray Wilson admits he robbed a train; but it was all for the benefit of the Community Chest, according to a newspaper account. Through the cooperation of Elgin Air Force Base officials, the Sheriff's Posse staged the hold-up in broad day- BARTOW FOR SERVICES RENDERED Donald McLean (extreme president of the Polk — — right) light. Trainmen were 'in' on the robbery County Cattlemen's Association, presents a check for $500 —a reword for apprehending cattle thieves —to Rudolph Dunn, Wildlife Officer, while Sheriff Monroe Brannen (extreme left) and and permitted the 'outlaws' to relieve Arthur L. Higbie, Cattlemen's Association executive vice president look on. (Photo courtesy of Polk the passengers of their money. County Sheriff's Office. ) F~pensive Taste JAMBOREE JACKPOT DELAND —Sheriff Rodney Thurs- SARASOTA —Looking over by's deputies apprehended a man with $205 worth