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Police chief proposes fourth downtown district to concentrate patrols in entertainment corridor
Summary
Police Chief Bill Schultz proposed creating a fourth patrol district covering downtown entertainment areas to reduce travel time, increase proactive patrols and improve response. The plan would redistribute existing officers; staff will refine district maps and staffing estimates for future consideration.
Chief Bill Schultz presented a proposal to create a fourth police district focused on the downtown entertainment and riverfront corridor. He said the idea is not to add officers immediately but to reconfigure district boundaries so the same officer complement is redistributed into a smaller, denser downtown district.
Schultz described approximate boundaries for a proposed District 4 — north to East Sunrise Boulevard, south to the river, west to Flagler Village, and east to include Lauderdale Isles — a roughly three‑square‑mile area dominated by entertainment venues, seasonal population and frequent calls for service. He argued shrinking the geographic area for those patrols would reduce travel time, increase officer‑initiated contacts and improve proactive patrol and visibility.
Commissioners asked whether the change would remove officers from barrier‑island or other districts; Schultz said planned redistribution would preserve prior coverage levels and create a more balanced calls‑for‑service distribution across districts. Staff cautioned that any formal implementation would be limited by contractual staffing adjustments (next staffing recalculation in January 2027) and that numbers are still being finalized.
The commission expressed general support for further exploration, asking staff to return with staffing counts, detailed boundary maps and timing for implementation constrained by contractual cycles.
