His goals, which he outlined this week in a meeting with The News-Journal's editorial board, point toward a sea change for the office that had been under the same leadership for 16 years. The former Daytona Beach police chief has encountered some "resistance to change" from his command staff - his biggest surprise yet, he said.
"I just hope the good Lord will allow me to have half the success (in the county) that I had in Daytona Beach. We're going to try," he said, adding that his passion for improving the Sheriff's Office exceeds his political aspirations. "One of the things I really don't care about is getting re-elected. That's not what my mission is. My mission is to come in, work as hard as I can, make the changes we need to make."
Here are some highlights of the interview:
BODY CAMERAS: While Daytona Beach has been using the technology since 2013, the sheriff's office has lagged behind. Not every deputy has a body cam and Chitwood said the county spends too much time studying and not enough time acting.
"It's paralysis through analysis. (The county has) studied it 88 ways from Sunday, and as they are studying it, every year (Daytona Beach) is buying more and more."
But it's not just about numbers. The sheriff's office body cam policy also needs to be reworked, Chitwood said.
"Right now we are changing the policy. The interesting thing in the policy was that you're allowed to turn off your camera for police tactics. (He described a case where deputies were turning off the cameras before they turned loose police canines.) That's got to change. The purpose of Daytona Beach's policy is pretty clear. You turn it on, and when the incident is over you turn it off. For some reason, they allowed the union to have input on how they drafted the policy. We are changing the policy and we are going to continue rolling out the body cams. ... At the end of the day, it's about transparency and doing the right thing, not about 'police tactics.'"
DEPUTY-INVOLVED SHOOTINGS: Without body cam footage, there's little way of knowing exactly what happened the six times since Sept. 20, 2014, that Volusia sheriff's deputies have shot and killed men. Chitwood wants a better understanding and plans to bring in a third-party agency to study past incidents.
"The Police Executive Research Forum is going to come in here. ...; They are going to look at our last three years' worth of police shootings. And the idea is not to lay blame at the officers, because the officers are doing what they are trained to do, and what the culture of the organization is. They are going to look at that, they are going to look at the policies, procedures and the way we train and they are going to devise a plan for me to help me change the culture. This isn't radical. It was done in Palm Beach County. They were averaging double-digit police shootings in the last several years. PERF came in and in the last two years they've had two police shootings and in both of those shootings the bad guy had a gun and was firing at the cops. So that's where we are heading ...
"In today's climate, it's something that I have to do. I have to review those shootings."
POLICING IN DELTONA: Chitwood said youth programs, public meetings and community involvement initiatives are on the cusp for Deltona.
"We are bad at soliciting input. Residents say they don't feel like they have a say in what goes on. They want some more engagement. Once I get these first months behind me and start getting bike patrol up and running out there, I think they will see a huge difference there."
And it's important to get deputies to stay there for a while, he added.
"They get rotated out. You go there, you cut your teeth and then you go somewhere else. As long as I am sheriff, (deputies) are going to do time there and be a vital cog in what we are doing out there."
CHANGES TO COMMAND STAFF "Command staff-wise, there is going to be a huge shakeup coming, probably within the next 30 days. We are trying to put round pegs into round holes and I'm trying to find folks that subscribe to my style of offense. The biggest surprise has been the resistance to change. There are sometimes that I will say 'Hey, let's go do this.' And the response will be 'Well, Sheriff Johnson would never do that.' It's hard for some people in the organization to accept the fact that we are heading in a new direction. And that's why I'm taking my time before I make the transfers."
PRIVATIZING COURTHOUSE SECURITY: "Preliminarily, we are spending $60,000 a month in overtime in courthouse security. I sent the major and captain in charge to go over to Lake County. Lake is one of five counties that have either totally or partially privatized courthouse security. That's something that is coming out in the next couple of months; we are probably going to partially privatize. There are 25 openings at the courthouse now, and I believe county administrators believe it's easier to pay the overtime than to fill the openings."
©2017 The News-Journal, Daytona Beach, Fla. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
