DEBARY TO PAY COST OF ADDING 5 DEPUTIES

A Narcotics Investigator Will Be Among The Extra Officers Paid For By The
City Budget.

DEBARY -- This city has a growing crime problem. Development fuels it.
Money can help fix it.

It's partly what drove the City Council on Wednesday to unanimously approve
$3.5 million worth of county contract proposals. The contracts provide for
county services such as animal control, fire protection, road work and
mosquito control. The city last year budgeted $2.8 million for those services.

About $185,000 more than last year has been set aside in DeBary's proposed
2002-2003 budget to pay for fire protection and growth management services,
such as inspections and permitting. However, the additional expense needed
for law enforcement -- $551,401 -- is what dominated discussion at the
workshop.

"There are a lot of drugs in DeBary," Volusia County sheriff's Lt. Alan
Osowski said. "More felony arrests, more burglaries, more robberies, too.
These things were not here four years ago," he said.

The Sheriff's Office logged 87 felony arrests in DeBary in 2000. That
number climbed to 115 in 2001, a 32 percent increase.

There were 80 home burglaries in 2000 -- 106 in 2001.

Two people fell prey to an armed robber in 2000. A year later, that number
was 12.

The higher crime rate and increased need for law-enforcement services was
attributed to more people living in the city.

"The more people you get, the more crime that comes along with it," Mayor
Carmen Rosamonda said. "That's where we really need to be proactive and cut
down on this stuff before it gets too bad."

Being proactive, according to Osowski, means hiring a narcotics
investigator to handle drug cases in DeBary. Four additional officers on
top of that also are needed, Osowski said.

Council member Greg France questioned the need for a narcotics cop in
DeBary, and he asked Osowski why DeBary has to pay for law-enforcement
services now when the county paid for it before DeBary's incorporation in 1993.

DeBary is a city now, Osowski explained, and cities assume responsibility
for protecting their residents. As DeBary grows, so will the cost to do so.

There are big plans in the city for a town center on land at U.S. Highway
17-92 and Dirksen Drive. It would bring shops and well-paid residents
living in upscale apartments.

Rosamonda said crooks would be attracted to such a development, but it
doesn't mean DeBary needs to stop growing and developing, he said. Spend
money now beefing up police presence and would-be thieves will think twice,
the mayor said.

"If you create that reputation, hopefully that will save us from a lot of
future crimes," Rosamonda said.

Still, the money must be spent wisely, council member Danny Allen said.
Additional deputies are fine, but not if they'll spend the bulk of their
time writing parking tickets. Deputies need to be patrolling the streets,
Allen said.

The mayor initially was hesitant to go along with putting five more
deputies in DeBary. In the end, though, he reasoned that DeBary has to do
what it takes to keep out crime.

"I'd rather pay for the [deputies] than pay for the crime," Rosamonda said.

Lauding the 16 deputies currently patrolling DeBary, Osowski said some of
the officers spend their off-hours keeping tabs on suspected drug houses.

Osowski's sentiment wasn't lost on council member Bill Long, a former
deputy. He said DeBary's need for a narcotics cop is real because the
city's drug problem is real.

"Our kids are out there every day and have the availability to get drugs,"
Long said. "We've got teenagers addicted to crack cocaine who are buying
drugs right here."