New Osceola Sheriff Russell Gibson focuses on fulfilling his campaign promises.
Gibson pursues grants, body cams, recruiting to keep election vows
Osceola County Sheriff Russell Gibson doesn’t want to fill the shoes of his predecessor.
Instead, he brought a new pair when he took office in January and replaced former Sheriff Bob Hansell, who served as the top cop in the county for more than a decade before deciding to retire.
Gibson says he’s bringing unique ideas, a fresh outlook and a new leadership staff, who are helping to bring positive changes, some of which have already been implemented within his first few months on the job leading the 760-person department.
“[Hansell] had such a good reputation in the community so a lot of people have told me that I have a lot to live up to in this role,” he said. “... I’m really hoping to build on the work he did along with bringing something new to the Sheriff’s Office and our community.”
Some of the first things Gibson aimed to do was fulfill several of his campaign promises. He hired a financial director who will help in applying and securing grants to help pay for things like body cameras and community initiatives.
He’s also bolstered a new recruiting team to help fill vacancies in the department, something he says is important as the county continues to grow.
“There’s a lot of competition and a lot of agencies have wellestablished recruiting programs, so we’re getting into the academies and establishing relationships so we can better recruit because we want the
best people serving our community,” Gibson said.
He said there were 47 vacancies when he took office. Now there are about 25 jobs that need to be filled.
His leadership team also is filled with new faces, most of which were promoted from within.
During his first month in office, 11 people from Hansell’s staff either resigned or retired, including at least two who were told they’d be terminated and decided to retire instead.
Some said the moves were politically motivated, but Gibson said it’s a normal occurrence in new administrations to bring in new faces and new ideas.
Chief Deputy Martha Gens, Gibson’s second in command who has been with the Sheriff ’s Office for 29 years, was promoted from a sergeant in special investigations. She said they have a lot of things they plan to accomplish before 2020, when Gibson will be up for reelection.
“The first 60 days have been very busy,” Gens said. “We had a deputy-involved shooting, then an attempted kidnapping, then also a new administration to tend to as we were all getting used to our new roles.”
She said a few of the priorities are body cameras, the overdose-reversing antidote Narcan and a new Sheriff’s Office building for the west side of the county, which is expanding.
“[Gibson] came in with plans to help better our area and we’re definitely on track to do just that,” Gens said.
Gibson said body cameras will take some time to put in place because of funding and planning. He said his administration is examining other departments in the area that added cameras to learn best practices, along with looking at potential vendors.
There are also plans in the works to help the agency better connect with the community. Gibson said the Sheriff’s Office is hoping to start a program called “Camp Kind” next school year.
Middle-school kids who have been suspended will spend their days off from school at the county’s Lake X facility, a building on a 10,426-acre ranch in St. Cloud. The children will get to spend one-on-one time with counselors and student resource officers.
“A lot of times these are the kids who are getting into trouble outside of school by breaking in cars and other things, so the idea is to help detour them from those activities and give them a little more support,” said Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jacob Ruiz.
The Sheriff’s Office is also planning to institute a more in-depth volunteer program that will allow citizens to lend their expertise to the agency.
“We have a lot of people who are retired who are experts in their field and we saw it as an opportunity to really connect with our citizens,” Ruiz said. “They’ll be able to help around our office, on traffic control, special events, or you name it. … Even former scuba instructors might be able to help our marine unit.”
Gibson said while his first few months have been busy, he’s enjoyed it and is looking to the future.
“We definitely still have a lot of work to do,” he said.” But it’s worth it because we all love this community and are here to make it as safe as possible.”