FORT MYERS, FLa. -- Continued crime in Lehigh Acres is grabbing increased attention from the Lee County Sheriffs Office, and County Commission. But to tackle it, Lee County Sheriff Mike Scott tells me he needs more guys on the street.
"All of our staffing levels, the Sheriffs Office and the Fort Myers Police Departments staffing levels are lower than they were years prior," Scott said. To hire more officers, Commissioners gave Sheriff Scott more money to spend. This budget is very successful. We have 35 new positions, quite a few of which, in fact a predominant number of which will be going to Lehigh."
8 to 12 of the 35 new Deputies will cruise Lehigh's streets. Streets that can be hard to police due to how Lehigh is laid out. "There are many areas out there that are remote that are divided by wooded lots and barriers of vision and stuff like that."
But don't expect these new hires to immediately hit the streets. It's a process that includes intensive training and completion in the academy. "When we hire a person, before that person is ready to go, its about a year."
But Scott says it wont be a year before changes are evident. "Our people are fired up, they're not discouraged, they're making arrests everyday and we'll continue to keep the pressure on."
