Politics & Government

Pasco Gets $1 Million More to Investigate Child Abuse Cases

The increase gives the Pasco County Sheriff's Office more than $5 million a year to address abuse and neglect.

A Pasco County Sheriff’s Office media release:

Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco is pleased to announce that state legislators have increased the budget for the PSO Child Protective Investigations Unit by approximately $1 million for the next fiscal year.

Child Protective Investigators are civilian employees of the Sheriff's Office
who investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect in Pasco County.

The PSO CPI budget is funded through a state grant, not county government, and has remained the same for the last three years, even as the unit's caseload
has increased. This has resulted in not only a lower per capita investigative
cost per case, but also in lower salaries for Pasco CPIs compared to their
counterparts in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties.

"We thank our local legislators, especially Speaker Designate Will Weatherford
who spearheaded this, for standing up for Pasco's most vulnerable at-risk
children who deserve the same level of funding as other adjacent counties,"
said Sheriff Chris Nocco. "We are extremely efficient with taxpayer dollars
but we are at a critical point because of the prescription pill and illegal
drug epidemic that directly affects innocent children."

"We have a 35 percent turnover rate with our CPIs," said Ken Kilian, director
of the Pasco Sheriff's Office CPI Unit. "The main reasons we hear that they
are leaving is due to the high case workload which causes burnout and the low
salary compared to other agencies."

The Pasco Sheriff's Office CPI budget is currently about $4.6 million and the
additional funding will raise it to about $5.6 million.

"This additional funding will allow us to fill vacant positions and add a new
squad to work with our outstanding Child Protective Investigators," said
Sheriff Nocco. "The protection of our children is paramount and to succeed as
a county we must ensure the protection of our future."

Per capita cost of investigations:

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  • Pinellas budget - $10,040,024; number of cases in 2010-2011, 9,944; average cost per investigation, $1,010.
  • Hillsborough budget - $11,028,672; number of cases in 2010-2011, 10,917; average cost per investigation, $1,010.
  • Pasco budget - $4,591,619; number of cases in 2010-2011, 5,823; average cost per investigation, $789.


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