Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office


The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, commonly known by the acronym PBSO, is the largest law enforcement agency in Palm Beach County, Florida. With more than 4,000 employees and 4,300 volunteers, the department provides police services for more than 680,000 residents in the county's unincorporated areas and 120,000 in seven cities and towns. The department oversees the county jail system, provides security at the county courthouse in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach International Airport and transports inmates to and from the courthouse and local hospitals.
Over 40% of the county's population lives in unincorporated areas near the Atlantic coast.
The county has 39 municipalities in total.
Some have their own police departments, while others have town agencies. The following cities contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office to provide law enforcement services: Belle Glade, Greenacres, Lake Park, Lake Worth Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, Mangonia Park, Pahokee, Palm Beach Shores, Royal Palm Beach, South Bay, South Palm Beach, Wellington, and Westlake. The Sheriff is Ric L. Bradshaw.

Detention and Community Control

The largest of the three correctional facilities the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department operates is the Main Detention Center. Three towers make up the center, The South Tower, The East Tower, and The West Tower. The largest is The South Tower, the building was constructed in 1993 from concrete and steel with a cost of $52 million. The East and West Towers were built in 1983; they now flank the South, completing the Main Detention Center.
The Main Detention Center's primary usage is to hold high risk inmates, federal inmates, and those inmates who are in need of special medical attention and/or are unable to operate at other facilities. The total number of beds at the facility is 2,166. The South Tower can hold 1,285 inmates, East has 418 beds, and The West has 404 beds.

Communications

The Communications department at the PBSO consists of over 180 employees. There are four call centers that operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year taking in over a million calls annually. The centers are located in Headquarters in West Palm Beach, the Courthouse Command Center, Belle Glade - District 5, and the Palm Beach International Airport. Texting to 911 is also an option for those who are deaf, hard of hearing, have a speech impediment, or are in an emergency situation where voice call is not possible.

Domestic Violence Prevention

The Domestic Violence Unit consists of a sergeant, two detectives and 5 domestic violence advocates. The advocates are trained to help and assist victims of domestic violence filing the petition and be with them throughout the legal process as support consultants.

Hiring process

The first step to becoming a Sheriff is submitting a physical test called the "Basic Motor Skills Test" where a trainer will determine how physically fit the candidate is. After the physical testing has been completed and the requirements are submitted, the application process begins. If the Sheriff's Office feels as if the applicant can contribute they will bring them in for various tests, such as a polygraph test and drug test, as well as multiple psychiatric interviews. If all tests are passed, the applicant is invited to the Criminal Justice Academy where different situations are proposed with the invitees acting as a Sheriff in these instances to prepare the aspiring Sheriffs to be ready for many different situations. The Academy takes about 22 weeks to complete, after that they are sworn into the PBSO.

Controversies and criticisms

Questionable hire in response to school shootings

Palm Beach county tried to implement school security training, which now will become a state law. The school district hired Invictus, a private firm in Boynton Beach but Palm Beach County Sheriffs thought the training was deemed inadequate. The sheriffs took matters into their own hands. A Boynton Beach senator Lori Berman among other lawmakers discussed closing the loophole allowing a local school district to hire a local company like Invictus to train school armed guards. Invictus didn't agree and defended training and they sued the district $100,000.

Robert Hayes

Palm Beach County Sheriffs charged Robert Hayes with 1st degree murder of Rachel Bey. Rachel Bey was a prostitute found naked and dead 50 feet from Beeline highway, she was beaten and strangled. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says Robert Hayes is responsible for at least five other murders of women in the state of Florida. Hayes was interviewed about these murders, but the Sheriff's Office did not find any evidence against him.

Stalking

Palm Beach County Sheriff's Officer was arrested after putting a GPS tracker on a woman's car and stalking her. This woman was married but was having an affair with a Sheriff named Jose Miguel Fernandez. The woman ended up ending the affair with Fernandez but after the fact he meet her on three occasions out of the blue. The husband ended up finding the GPS tracker under the car and Fernandez said he did it because the husband threatened his son.

Composition

The Sheriff's Office is composed of roughly 4,186 employees, including approximately 1,584 sworn law enforcement personnel, 697 sworn corrections personnel, 1,905 civilian personal and 1,800 volunteers. The annual operating budget for the PBSO is approximately $620,000,000. Since January 2005, Ric L. Bradshaw has been sheriff for Palm Beach County with 45 years of law enforcement experience.

Law Enforcement

Currently PBSO provides law enforcement services to three regional patrol bureaus, North, South and Western.

Rank structure

Executive staff

Sheriff Bradshaw's highest-level Executive staff consists of the following individuals:

List of Sheriffs