The lone Deputy

I guess I am the only one from WCSO that found this. I feel so lonely....

For those of you wondering...crime does occur in walton county!

It does? What's it like up there? I'm looking to retire and move from central FL in 3 years.

Polk Deputy

I am currently in the academy in Pensacola, looking for some info on Walton County outside the official channels.

How are things as far as....

morale

training

equipment(cars, mdt's, weapons etc) tasers?

call load

"problem areas" that are enough of a problem to keep you busy on the slow nights, meaning somewhere you can do some proactive work.

how does the admin treat use of force? for the cops still or play the kiss the publics a** game?

shifts and days off?

specialized units? K-9, air, etc.

is the sheriff good, decent or terrible?

how many sworn?

To anyone who answers, thanks.

WCSO is a department with growing pains. The department was about 60 sworn in 02 and now has grown to around 180 sworn. The department has just recently increased their salary to 32,000 with paid vacation, mil leave. Morale is good because supervisors leave you alone for the most part. Security checks on business's and residential areas is stressed. The call volume is slow between oct-may. After memorial day to october is is crazy due to the influx of vacationers to south walton for the beaches. The scenery is beautiful and I believe it is a great place to work if you are burned out with the fast pace, high call volume and having your supervisor down your back all the time.

Hope this helps....

I just found this site as well. I work at WCSO too and have been here for just over a year.

I agree with WCSO Deputy, morale is pretty good, supervisors let you do your thing and there is good comraderie in the dept. Pay is getting better, good vehicles, MCT's, etc. Sorry no tasers, but its rumored we'll getting them sometime in the future. Not all vehicles have radar units (bummer) but as WCSO Deputy said we are a growing agency and growing pains are to be expected.

For more info check out the department's website it has been updated.

http://www.waltonso.org/home.html


A Few more answers for you:

Every Friday is a designated training day so at least one shift will be in training and it’s rotated between the squads. We recently had our firing range completed and a live fire training shoot house is under construction.

Use of force issues are handled SOP, use the force necessary to stop the threat. If you can articulate why you did what you did you should have no problems.

We work a four and three schedule. Four days on three days off, ten hour shifts.

Dayshift 7a-5p
Evenings 3p-1a
Midnights 9p -7a

So there’s some overlap each shift, the shifts are permanent, meaning if you work dayshift you stay dayshift forever. The breakdown is work Tues, Weds, Thurs, Fri, off Sat, Sun Mon or work Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, off Tues, Weds, Thur. However, the squads rotate days off every three months so no one gets off permanent weekends.

The website can give you info on the specialized units, but we do have traffic, narcotics, K-9, air, and beach patrol units.

You are issued all equipment except shoes; the department also provides a Beretta 40 cal and shotgun. Assault rifles (AR-15’s), etc. are your responsibility to purchase if you want to carry one, but you will need approval from the sheriff prior to doing so. Glock 40 cal’s were recently purchased but there is no word yet on when we will qual and carry.

I’m not going to go into what areas are problems areas but suffice to say that even in the rural parts of the county a proactive deputy can find something to get into.

Polk County Deputy,

The pace is not as fast as your probably use too and I don’t know if you would get more money based on your experience. I didn’t for military time but you may.

Hope this helps…….

Is there a step pay plan? Are off duty details prevalent throughout the year?

There is a step pay plan and off-duty details are plentiful. From spring break thru October is the busiest. November thru January it slows down but you can still average about 5-6 per month.

I am thinking of retiring from my current agency in a little while. I want to move where it is a little quieter than South Florida is. My spouse has heard that the area is a bunch of good old boys and red necks. How much truth is there to this?

Your wife is correct! If you retire here bring a banjo and you will fit in just fine. Seriously though, there is still a lot of that good ole boy, redneck mentality throughout the county. Its especially prevelent in the northern (Paxton, DeFuniak Springs, etc.) part of the county, but not as much in the southern (Santa Rosa Beach) part of the county.

I have only been in Walton county for a little over a year and that mentality was very obvious when I first began working here, everybody knows everybody or is somehow related to one another. Now I don't encounter that as much so maybe it's beginning to wane or I've just become accustomed to that atmosphere.

My advice for you is to take a little vacation time and spend a few days checking the area out. However, I used to be stationed in Tampa in the military and life in Central/South Florida is way more busier and hectic than it is in Walton county.

Lastly, if you like hunting/fishing you will love it, but if you into the live performance plays/theater, concerts and other like events frequently held down south you won't get it up north.

Hope that helps...