J Magazine Winter 2018

Art Walk, a task force comes in to increase
police presence, said Lt. Jimmy Ricks, who’s
been assigned to Zone 1 for about five years.
Several factors are considered when
allocating officers, such as calls for service
and peak times. Judge said the department
allocates “quite a bit” of resources to the
core, which is filled during the day with
employees going to and from work and
spilling out into the streets for lunch.
“Our goal is anytime you leave a building
Downtown to go to another building, that
you see a police officer,” Judge said. “I think
we’re doing it.”
One way to increase presence is through
bike and walking patrols, as well as Sheriff’s
Watch meetings where officers talk with
residents and try to get them to partner
with the department, Judge said. There are
about 3,400 members in the Sheriff’s Watch
program, which the department works to
get involved and provide feedback.
The department wants the members to
be “our eyes and ears because a lot of things
are unreported,” he said.
Ricks said Judge has emphasized to the
officers, particularly those on the bike and
walking patrols, the importance of building
partnerships with businesses. “What we’re
trying to drive home to them is to get
out there, engage them, give them your
numbers, know their names, let them know
your name,” he said.
The department’s push to increase its
presence Downtown has been noticed by
many, including Jason Hunnicutt, owner
of 1904 Music Hall and Spliff’s Gastropub,
both on Ocean Street in The Elbow district.
He said the officers occasionally come in
during their walking patrol, and he regularly
sees them on bicycles during the day. Plus,
he sees a police car every five to 10 minutes,
he said, though he’s not sure how much of
that is because they may be heading to the
department’s headquarters on Bay Street.
Either way, though, it makes for a consistent
presence.
“You see tons of cop cars,” Hunnicutt
said.
Judge said he thinks the biggest
misperception about crime in Zone 1 is that
violent crime is on the rise when it’s actually
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Bike Patrol officers make
the rounds near the Jacksonville Landing during a
recent Wednesday evening Downtown Art Walk.
declining. But high-profile shootings like
one last year during Art Walk and at a
video game tournament in August at the
Jacksonville Landing drive the fear that
Downtown is dangerous.
Barakat said the shooting at the
tournament should be “irrelevant” in
the discussion about Downtown safety.
“Most people intuitively know that was an
aberration that did not have anything to do
with Jacksonville, Florida,” he said.
Judge said he consistently pushes the
message that Downtown is safe. However,
he added, “I can say that all day long, but
if somebody doesn’t feel safe, then they’re
not safe.”
Panhandlers
and vagrants
The safety perception can be skewed
by homeless people, panhandlers and
WINTER 2018-19 | J MAGAZINE 31