Sheriff Mike Williams talks on expanded technology, gun bounty program

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — This morning Sheriff Mike Williams talked with Jacksonville’s Morning News where he went into detail about expanding technology that would help with more arrests and a gun bounty program that would help with getting illegal guns off the street.

The program will pay out $1,000 to anyone who calls First Coast Crime Stoppers and turns in someone who is possessing a gun illegally. If that anonymous tip leads to an arrest and the gun is taken off the streets, you get the money with no questions asked. This program has been used in the past and according to Williams, did work.

“Nobody knows your neighborhood like you know your neighbor. So when you see that something that’s a little bit out of place, you know, no matter how small, we want you to call and share that information,” Williams said. “We give them an opportunity to reach out to us completely anonymously through our partners at Crimestoppers. Give us that information and if we make an arrest or recover that gun, they get a thousand dollars, no questions asked. No policemen knocking on your door, nobody coming around your house. No follow up questions.”

Williams also mentioned that the Real Time Crime Center will be expanding in the city by using more cameras and more coverage. The way the system works is that when you call 9-1-1, and if there is a crime happening in an area where there is a camera that is connected with JSO, the dispatcher should be able to see what is happening in real-time.

The lack of people on the force is also an issue that Williams wants to change. He believes that if they have more officers, they can cover more territory.

“I’ve got less policemen than we had 10 years ago in the city,” Williams said. “But just in, you know, the cuts that we were recovering from, battling retirements, you know, we’ve got to get that number where it needs to be and we’re going to continue work on that. So all those things together are really what will build a strategy that will help get us over this issue.”

Cox Media Group