SUBJECT:
Title
Request for Consideration and Approval of the Renaming of The Marion County Sheriff’s Operations Complex as “The Don R. Moreland Criminal Justice Complex”
Body
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INITIATOR: |
DEPARTMENT: |
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Mounir Bouyounes, PE, County Administrator |
Administration |
DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND:
Former Marion County Judge John Futch and other members of the community have reached out to County Administration recommending the renaming of the Marion County Sheriff’s Operations Complex to the “Don R. Moreland Criminal Justice Complex”.
Don R. Moreland was a true “lawman” of that time. Tall, barrel-chested, somewhat quiet, and a reputation throughout the county as fearless. Born in Dawson, Georgia, he served in the U.S. Navy from 1952 to 1956. After his discharge, he started his law enforcement career as a patrolman with the Ocala Police Department. In 1957, Moreland was hired as a Deputy by Sheriff F. L. McGehee and earned an A.A. degree from Central Florida Junior College. (Today known as the College of Central Florida)
In the 1972 Sheriff’s election, Don Moreland defeated Doug Willis, who was trying for his fourth term. At midnight on January 2, 1973, Don Moreland and his family came to the jail where he was sworn in as Sheriff. Sheriff Moreland served five consecutive terms (twenty years) as Sheriff, making him the longest-serving Sheriff in the history of Marion County.
Sheriff Moreland was the first Marion County Sheriff to institute written policies. He also initiated a standardized evaluation system to assess the performance of all employees and established an awards system to recognize excellent and heroic actions by all agency personnel. Sheriff Moreland initiated an aviation program when he obtained two Bell helicopters and experimented with another program, having the Deputies own their own patrol cars. By the late 1970’s, the Sheriff phased out the latter program and started issuing deputies patrol cars under what is known as the “Indianapolis plan,” where a car would be issued to each deputy to drive and care for. Under Sheriff Moreland, the agency started issuing firearms, which started around 1984; prior to that, each deputy would purchase his own gun.
With the tremendous growth of the county during Moreland’s time in office, there were many changes to the agency. During Sheriff Moreland’s time in office, he instituted the first decentralized policing strategy by opening substations throughout the county. The first was at Salt Springs and was opened in 1976, and the Ocklawaha substation opened in 1978. Eventually, substations were also opened in Dunnellon, Orange Lake, Silver Springs Shores, State Road 200, and Lynne, with an additional workstation in Marion Oaks. In August 1988, the Hammett L. Bowen, Jr. Operations Center was opened on the complex. The idea of dedicating the building to Marion County’s only Medal of Honor Recipient was a result of a speech Sheriff Moreland was asked to give on Veterans Day.
Sheriff Moreland also recognized that times were changing and that his deputies needed some form of protection. As a result, he was one of the first Sheriffs to establish a career service act by state law. This provided an established process for disciplinary action and gave the employees protection from political terminations.
Sheriff Moreland was a highly respected and well-liked Sheriff, not only by his employees, but also by the public. During his tenure, the agency saw many changes, as well as many high-profile cases. Sheriff Moreland had many awards bestowed on him and his agency, but the one most remembered was being awarded national accreditation, not only in law enforcement but also in the jail.
There were many “Firsts” for Marion County in Sheriff Moreland’s administration.
• The first female patrol deputy: Patty Lumpkin
• First female sergeant: Lois Carey
• First black sergeant and lieutenant: Stacy Dickson
• First black captain: Fred Cyprian
• First SWAT team
• First Underwater Recovery team
• First computers in the agency
• First Field Force Team
• First D.A.R.E. program
• First Negotiations Team
• First Crime Scene/Evidence unit
• First School Resource Officer program
After leaving office, Sheriff Moreland would be appointed U. S. Marshal for the Central District of Florida by President Clinton. He would serve in that capacity for almost nine years.
Attached to this agenda item are letters supporting this action in honor of the late Sherrif Don R. Moreland.
The County Administrator recommends naming the Marion County Sheriff’s Operations Complex the “Don R. Moreland Criminal Justice Complex” as this dedication would be a fitting memorial to the many contributions Sheriff Morland made to Marion County. This dedication will initially be memorialized with a dedication sign from Marion County and later a formal entrance will be designed between the County and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office with donations solicited by the requesters of this dedication to fund the project.
BUDGET/IMPACT:
None
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
Motion to approve the naming of the Marion County Sheriff’s Complex the “Don R. Moreland Criminal Justice Complex”
end