Casselberry police get federal help to fight drug-related crime
When the number of drug arrests in Casselberry doubled in two years, police in the city called the federal government for backup.
Between 2015 and 2017, drug arrests jumped from 50 to 117, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. As the drug activity increased, so did other drug-related crimes.
In response to the numbers, city officials applied for and won a $325,967 federal grant from the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services Hiring Program to hire three additional officers for the Casselberry Police Department. The special three-officer unit has been on the street since September with a focus on preventing and reducing drug-related crime.
“We live in the crossroads on busy highways, and people drop into our city and do bad things,” City Manager Randy Newlon said. “When we see trends, we want to be able to have someone out there to anticipate and work against those trends. It means a lot to the community even if they don’t realize it yet.”
According to Casselberry Police Chief Larry Krantz, the three homicides in Casselberry since he took over in 2015 have been linked to narcotics in some way.
The officers patrol city neighborhoods and parks, studying crime patterns and trends and adjusting their tactics. In addition, they manage traffic, look out for attempts to steal packages from people’s homes and handle auto and residential burglaries – which are often drug-related crimes. They also take time to get to know people in the community, especially young people and senior citizens.
Krantz said that the drug issues in Casselberry are both homegrown and brought in from other cities.
“We arrested individuals that aren’t tied to city, who brought drugs in,” he said. “We identified that they had narcotics in their possession and found the people who obtained it from other cities and brought it back.”
Krantz said cocaine and marijuana are the most prominent drugs showing up in Casselberry, adding that one of his main objectives when he took over as chief was to get handle on drug use.
“I wanted us to focus in on that because it can lead to other crimes,” he said. “My goal is to make the community safe for all those who live here.”
Casselberry was one of 10 agencies in Florida to get grants from the program. Federal funding pays for 75 percent of each of the three officers’ salaries for the first three years of the grant and the city of Casselberry will pay the remaining 25 percent. After the third year of the program, if the city and police department decide to continue with the program, then the city will pay the entire salary of each officer.
The city is currently using the general fund to pay for the remaining 25 percent of the officers' salaries. The city has not yet announced how they will pay the salaries after the third year.