Crime & Safety

Pasco Sheriff's Major Shares Insights On Pressing Issues

Maj. Chris Nocco wouldn't elaborate on his bid to replace Bob White as sheriff.

While Pasco County Maj. Chris Nocco wouldn’t go into detail about the impendingor hisduring the April 4 meeting of the Land O’ Lakes Rotary Club, he did share his opinions about what issues the agency faces.

Nocco initially intended to discuss the recent opening of a sheriff’s office helicopter , but diverted from the plan to elaborate on what he says are concerns for sheriff’s office in the coming years.

Two of the biggest concerns he has are prescription drug abuse and making sure school resource officers are maintained on campuses throughout the county.

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“(In the) prescription pill epidemic, Broward and Miami are ground zero, but it’s coming north,” he told Rotary members. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything (yet).”

Since prescription pills are technically legal, shutting down “pill mills” can be very difficult for the sheriff’s office, Nocco said. The county’s best line of defense at this point is working with code enforcement, he added.

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School safety is also a concern on Nocco’s list. He said school resource deputies not only provide campus security, but also intelligence the entire sheriff’s office benefits from. He referred to a trend with teens that involves crushing sticks of incense to snort instead of doing illegal drugs as an example of intelligence resource offers are able to gather.

“(It’s) imperative our school resource officers are working in there,” he said.

Former Sheriff Lee Cannon, who is a Rotarian, was present at the meeting. He asked Nocco for his opinion on reopening the West Pasco Jail as a homeless shelter.

“It makes sense,” Nocco said. “I don’t think we can use that jail as a jail again.”

The jail was closed in 2009 and all inmates were moved to the Land O' Lakes Detention Center. The layout of West Pasco, Nocco said, doesn’t support an efficient operation.

Nocco is one of several applicants that have filed paperwork with Gov. Rick Scott’s office to replace White when he retires April 30. He started at the sheriff’s office in March 2009, leaving a job as chief of staff at the Florida Highway Patrol headquarters in Tallahassee to become captain of administration in Pasco.

Gov. Scott has not made a decision on who will replace White yet.

The Land O’ Lakes Rotary Club meets every Monday at 12:15 p.m. For more information, visit rotarylol.com.


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