JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After Mike Williams, who was elected to a second term as sheriff, said he plans to update how the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office assigns officers, News4Jax on Wednesday obtained a breakdown of where there's the most police activity in the city.
Williams told News4Jax last month that the department is looking to possibly redraw the boundaries of its six patrol zones around the city as the current map was drawn more than 20 years ago and is likely outdated since Jacksonville has grown considerably.
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News4Jax reported March 20 that JSO's Zone 4, which covers all of Duval County south of Interstate 10 and west of the St. Johns River, is the busiest in the city with the most calls for service to police. New numbers, which show the overall calls for service for each zone, back that up.
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The numbers show Zone 4 needs officers. Zone 4 had nearly 159,000 calls for service to police in 2017 and about 161,000 in 2018 -- a 1.5% increase.
VIEW: JSO Calls For Service Comparison Annual Report
The zone with the second most calls for service was JSO's Zone 3, which covers Duval County south of Beach Boulevard and east of the St. Johns River to the St. Johns County line. The numbers show Zone 3 had about 144,000 calls for service in 2017 and 151,000 in 2018 -- a 5.1% increase.
In comparison, JSO's Zone 6, which is the far Northside, only had about 71,000 calls for service in 2017 and 70,000 in 2018 -- a 1.5% decrease. JSO's Zone 1, which includes the downtown core, also had low call volumes with about 84,000 calls for service in 2017 and 88,000 in 2018. Though Zone 1 had a 4.6% increase in calls for service.
The sheriff hasn’t made any full decisions on remapping the zones. An outside agency is slated to begin a research process on that process around the end of this year.