CLAY COUNTY – Sheriff Michelle Cook didn’t have to look at pages of numbers and graphs to know that despite rapid growth, crime rate in the county continues to decrease.

The number of residents has grown by 12,261 since she became the sheriff in 2020. Still, the number of murders (two) reported by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement last year was an 11-year low, as were reported fondlings (23), robberies (23) and burglaries (232). Even more important, the county’s clearance rate – cases when a suspect is identified – also was a decade-best 50.6%. The national average is about 33%.

“I credit it to the men and women of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office who are doing a fantastic job,” Cook said.

“Second, they work every day, every minute, with technology, cameras and license plate readers. It’s very different to be able to find you. I think the third reason for our reduced crime is community involvement. We have a community that cares. We have a community that's paying attention, calls when they see something suspicious, which is very important.”

The statewide violent crime rate was 3.8 for every 1,000 people and 1,770 incidents for every 100,000 people for property crime. In Clay County, violent crime rate against people was 2.15; it was 871 for property crime.

“All of crime rates are down; our violent crime rate is down; our property crime rate is down,” Cook said. “And then, our response time is slightly improved, too, which is how fast we get to somebody when they call 911. That’s something we’re going to keep focusing on. There’s more traffic, and so much traffic. We’ve got many newer deputies, but we’re still getting there quicker.”

Compared to 2023, CCSO cut an average of nine seconds from its response time.

And yet, Cook said there’s so much room for improvement.

“You always want to be better,” she said. “The challenge we have is we are a fast-growing community, and that's why it's so important to keep the community engagement at a high level. Our deputies and detectives must earn the community’s confidence and respect, and we have the proper staff to respond.”

Cook said the plan is to build strategies that work, create new programs and re-tool existing plans.

“We will continue to strike things we know are working, which is keeping the community engaged, using smart technology and utilizing proper staffing,” she said. "We never want to high-five ourselves and let off. We must make sure we don't take for granted what we’ve accomplished.”