No Law Enforcement on Honeymoon a Concern, North District Captain Says

Recent mergers of state agencies have Pinellas County Sheriff's deputies concerned about a gap in law enforcement coverage at Honeymoon Island State Park.

"The sheriff is looking into this," Pinellas County Sheriff's Capt. Glenn Luben told city leaders Thursday. "He's concerned about this and he's going to address it with the state."

Luben, captain of North District Station in Dunedin, told city leaders as part of the a quarterly verbal report to the city that Honeymoon Island used to have daily presence from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, but the agency recently merged with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, which primarily works the waterways over multiple counties.

Luben said he believes one to two officers are assigned to all the state parks between Hernando and Pinellas counties, and their average response time is one hour. Park rangers on the island do not have access to file police reports, Luben explained.

"We've been noticing a lot of calls for service, not a lot, but there's 911 calls; there's domestic, there's lost children, there are a lot of calls going on out there, and always have been — nothing priority, no rapes, robberies, murders," Luben said. "But there's no officers out on that island." 

It has become a concern, because "we're not staffed or funded to do it," Luben explained. 

"Until I started about three or four weeks ago seeing that we're going to calls continually, I said, 'where's the law enforcement officer on the island?' There isn't one," he told city leaders. "The [calls] I've intervened myself, if I'm out on the road, is 911 hang-up calls or burglary to a car..." 

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri is addressing the issue with the state, Luben said.

In the meantime, "we don't mind if there's a 911 call." It doesn't matter whose jurisdiction it is, "I can tell ya, we're going," Luben said.

"I wanted to make you aware because the city of Dunedin deputies are the ones responding," Luben said.