![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/cmg\/MMTQOYRNLVASXD3N4QY2QGE7YE.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nJACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A recent string of deadly shootings, including cases involving children, has left some Jacksonville residents questioning whether the city is becoming more dangerous and whether the Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office is spending taxpayer dollars effectively.<\/p>\n
Those concerns took center stage Monday as Sheriff T.K. Waters fielded tough questions from residents during a community town hall, defending both the agency\u2019s performance and its nearly $700 million budget.<\/p>\n
Waters acknowledged the recent violence has been alarming, but said individual incidents don\u2019t reflect broader crime trends.<\/p>\n
According to data presented by JSO, violent crime is down 7.7% compared with the same period last year. Property crime has fallen 24.17%, motor vehicle thefts are down 50.32%, and burglaries have dropped 26.1%.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been an uptick lately,\u201d Waters said of recent officer-involved shootings and violent incidents. \u201cBut that\u2019s not the usual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t go on a shopping spree\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the discussion centered on JSO\u2019s budget and why it continues to grow.<\/p>\n
Waters argued the agency operates with little discretionary spending and said every budget request undergoes extensive review before reaching the City Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur budget chief is an attorney and a CPA,\u201d Waters told the audience. \u201cThe question is always, \u2018Do we need to spend these dollars?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Department leaders submit requests each budget cycle, he said, but those requests are scrutinized before being included in the final proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t go on a shopping spree,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n
According to JSO\u2019s budget presentation:<\/p>\n
80.04%\u00a0of the budget funds salaries and employee benefits.7.19%\u00a0covers internal service charges.6.6%\u00a0pays for contractual services, including inmate health care, food service and courthouse security.5.29%\u00a0funds operating expenses such as software, computers, uniforms, ammunition, maintenance and training.<\/p>\n
Waters said the budget also covers expenses many people don\u2019t consider, including housing inmates, medical care inside the jail, technology infrastructure and maintaining the Pretrial Detention Facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is allocated,\u201d he said, pushing back against suggestions that the agency has large amounts of discretionary spending.<\/p>\n
Use of force and accountability<\/p>\n
Residents also questioned recent officer-involved shootings and use-of-force incidents.<\/p>\n
Waters said officers are trained to use deadly force only when confronted with a deadly threat.<\/p>\n
\u201cA police officer has a right to use deadly force if deadly force is used against that officer,\u201d he said. \u201cPolice officers are not here to be a target.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed that every officer-involved shooting undergoes multiple reviews, including a criminal investigation and an internal administrative review.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe prosecutors always make the charging decisions,\u201d Waters said, noting JSO does not decide whether criminal charges are filed against an officer.<\/p>\n
Separately, the department\u2019s Response to Resistance Review Board examines whether any policies were violated. Depending on the findings, discipline can range from retraining to termination.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted the officers to know that we\u2019re there,\u201d Waters said. \u201cBut we\u2019re going to hold them accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Retention improving despite staffing challenges<\/p>\n
While Waters said Jacksonville would benefit from additional officers, he argued JSO has made significant progress retaining the workforce it has.<\/p>\n
He cited a recent employee survey showing fewer than 16% of JSO employees said they were looking for employment elsewhere\u2014well below what he said are national averages for law enforcement.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not without sin, but they want to work here,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Data presented by JSO <\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A recent string of deadly shootings, including cases involving children, has left some Jacksonville residents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,83910,7840,141092,56468,969,14186,116,118,117,1872,13743,634,115,2631,12160,7842,12854,66614],"class_list":["post-346865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-at_10","tag-ben_becker","tag-bliss_eman","tag-fox_30","tag-jack","tag-jacks","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso","tag-live","tag-local","tag-news","tag-sheriff","tag-side","tag-tanika_hughes","tag-tk_waters","tag-waters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}