NOVEMBER 1999

FSU's criminology and law classes prepared 10 of Florida's sheriffs

By Bayard Stern
Managing Editor. Florida State Times

Among Florida's 67 sheriffs, 25 are not college graduates. But the next biggest group is the FSU contingent, whose numbers and prominence suggest that Florida State's School of Criminology and Criminal Justice is having the impact it wants - professionalizing the work of law enforcement, particularly the intensely political and powerful job of sheriff.
Ten Florida sheriffs are FSU grads, nine from the School of Criminology and one from the College of Law.

Creating responsible and well educated law enforcement officers was the goal for FSU when the first criminology classes were taught in 1952. Today FSU's School of Criminology is recognized as one of the best in the country. It's also one of the oldest.

"Having nine sheriffs in Florida be graduates of the criminology program is a spectacular endorsement," said Daniel Maier-Katkin, dean of FSU's School of Criminology. "The whole rationale for investing in this form of education was in the hopes that it would elevate professionalism, elevate the quality of policing, that universities like ours, and schools of criminology like ours, would be able to put out graduates who over time would become the leaders of the law enforcement profession - and we seem to be doing it."

Larry Campbell (D)
Sheriff: Leon County
County seat: Tallahassee
Born: Jacksonville, Fla., 1942
FSU: B.S.W. '65 , criminology and abnormal psychology
Elected sheriff: '96

Larry Campbell has been in law enforcement 38 years.
"I enjoy being sheriff but it's a little different from what I've done in the past," Campbell said."Sometimes I miss the blood-and-guts part of the work like the stakeouts and everything else." Campbell worked with the sheriff's department while at FSU.
"My diploma says, to my chagrin, 'social work.' We were the group that were saying, 'hey, change it to criminology,' which they did.
"Criminology was a good school even when I was there. Another criminology major that went to school with me and went out to Oakland, but didn't go into law enforcement, was Freddy Biletnikoff."

Joey Dobson (D)
Sheriff: Baker County
County seat: Macclenny
Born: Lake City, Fla., 1949
FSU: B.S.W. '71, criminology
Elected sheriff: '96

Nestled just west of Jacksonville along I-10, Baker County isn't the largest county in Florida, but Sheriff Joey Dobson is in charge of the largest law enforcement agency there.
"It's more than a full-time job," Dobson said. "It's a small town and a small community, but I'm involved in a lot of things. I try to be helpful in people's lives when need be."
When Dobson was young he knew which way his career would go.
"My father was the clerk of the court," Dobson said. "From an early age I was fascinated with the judicial system and also rode regularly with sheriff's deputies as a child."

David F. Harvey (D)
Sheriff: Wakulla County
County seat: Crawfordville
Born: Tallahassee, Fla.,1949
FSU: B.S.W. '72 criminology
Elected sheriff: '76, '80, '84, '88, '92, '96

David Harvey has been sheriff in Wakulla County for 22 years.
"You've got the political side and the administrative side of being sheriff," Harvey said. "I enjoy administration, and I enjoy the political part of it in terms of helping and getting to know people."
Harvey enjoyed his time at FSU.
"It was a wonderful experience," he said. "I thought the criminology department was excellent. I have fond memories of Dr. Fox. Dr. Cherry was important to me. He's a friend of mine. He was bizarre in some of his teachings.
"He always clouded the issues with facts."

Don Hunter (R)
Sheriff: Collier County
County seat: Naples
Born: Tallahassee, 1951
FSU: B.S.W. '74, criminology; M.S. '83, criminal justice
planning
Elected sheriff: '88, '92, '96

Don Hunter enjoyed Florida State.
"I don't want to get too colorful," he said. "Most of my classes were in Bellamy. I enjoyed the campus, which was much smaller then. I remember streaking was in fashion, and the Flambeau seemed to enjoy covering it."
Hunter may not have been streaking, but he was studying.
"I found the classwork to be very challenging," he said. "I feel like I got a well rounded education. I found my educational experience from FSU really has helped me in the planning aspects of my job."

Ken Jenne (D)
Sheriff: Broward County
County seat: Fort Lauderdale
Born: New Haven, Conn., 1946
FSU: J.D. '72
Appointed sheriff, then elected in '98

Ken Jenne is the one FSU sheriff who didn't graduate from the FSU criminology program. He went to the FSU law school instead, and was a practicing attorney and a powerful and effective Florida legislator before becoming sheriff.
"Being sheriff is always a great challenge," Jenne said. "I learn something every day. It's a good job because we can help a lot of people in their communities.
"Community relations is something I am working hard to improve. Community policing is becoming more successful, and we believe it's a very important part of crime prevention."
Broward county has a population of around 1.6 million people.
"Being sheriff in a county this big is much like being a chief executive officer," Jenne said.

Ronald E. "Ronnie" Lee Sr. (R)
Sheriff: Hendry County
County seat: LaBelle
Born: Clewiston, Fla., 1942
FSU: B.S.W. '72, criminology
Elected sheriff: '96

Ronnie Lee is sheriff of a county with a mix of people, which he likes, and a low crime rate, which he wants to keep.
"We have very little crime down here as far as homicide," Lee said. "We've only had two this year. But it's a flat land, so we work a lot of drugs like anywhere else. We have a lot of different ethnic groups and migrant workers in this county with all of the agriculture, so it's a nice mix of people."
Lee appreciated his time at Florida State.
"FSU always seemed to have a good criminology program," Lee said. "When I went there it was either FSU or Michigan. I would say it was the best time of my life."

Geoffrey Monge (R)
Sheriff: Sarasota County
County seat: Sarasota
Born: Sterling, Ill., 1945
FSU: M.S. '69, criminology
Elected sheriff: '84, '88, '92, '96

Geoffrey Monge has worked in law enforcement 34 years.
"Being sheriff is a great position," he said. "I feel like we can make a positive impact on people's lives on the local level. I don't get a chance to do much investigating anymore, but I keep in close touch with what's happening. Administration is certainly a large part of the job, but it's all interesting.
"I had a good experience at Florida State. I was newly married and worked at the old Phillips 66 station on the corner of Magnolia and Tennessee. I interned with FDLE and after only two months started working for them.
"I spent 8-1/2 years with them, starting as an intelligence analyst and moving to special agent."

Frank E. Owens (D)
Sheriff: Columbia County
County seat: Lake City
Born: Hammonton, N.J., 1945
FSU: B.S.W. '70, criminology
Elected sheriff: '96

Sheriff Frank E. Owens worked his way through Florida State.
"While I was at FSU, I had a master's barber license, and I worked at two local barbershops," Owens said. "I was also in the police reserves at that time. It took me six years to get a four-year degree because I was working so much.
"The day I started at the Tallahassee Police Department was the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. Tallahassee was having some severe problems that day and they put me to work.
"My favorite part of being sheriff is that I'm in a position to make a difference. We can directly address problems as they come up. Kids are an area I dedicate a lot of time to."

Stephen M. Oelrich (R)
Sheriff: Alachua County
County seat: Gainesville
Born: Pensacola, Fla., 1945
FSU: B.S. '70, criminology with certificate
in law enforcement
Elected sheriff: '92, '96

Sheriff Oelrich was a St. Petersburg police officer before he came to Florida State.
"I was already 23 years old and in law enforcement," he said. "I didn't have your typical go to college, join a fraternity experience. It was more like I went up there to get my degree in criminology. I got a valuable strategic education from FSU. But I also feel like I got a well-rounded education at FSU."
"I like being sheriff," Oelrich said. "It's a great job. I have a wonderful staff here and its a good-sized county. It's not too big. I have approximately 700 employees. It's big enough so you can do a lot of things and have a lot of programs but not so big that you can't know a lot of your people on a day-to-day basis. The best part of my job is I get to work with heroes every day."

William A. Woodham (D)
Sheriff: Gadsden County
County seat: Quincy
Born: Dothan, Ala., 1941
FSU: B.S.W. '65, criminology and corrections
Elected sheriff: '72, '76, '80, '84, '88, '92, '96

Sheriff William "Wally" Woodham knows the small community of Gadsden County and has a simple philosophy about his success.
"Treat everyone fair and listen to what they have to say," Woodham said. "You have to be responsible for a lot of different things and people when you're sheriff, and I like that about the job."
Like many of his colleagues, Woodham worked his way through Florida State. "I didn't spend a whole lot of time studying 'cause I was working," Woodham remembers. "Being from South Alabama and not having a scholarship, I needed money. I worked for a Venetian blind company washing them. They had the contract at FSU. We took all the Venetian blinds down and put 'em back up clean. But I did learn a lot at FSU and enjoyed most of my classes."

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