Law Enforcement

  • Law Enforcement
  • Colonel's Bio
  • Patrol
  • Investigations
  • Contact

Todd Thompson, Colonel

Our Division is divided into 2 Bureaus and provides full-service law enforcement for the visitors and residents of St. Johns County and our primary responsibility is to answer all calls for service as well as investigate all aspects of criminal activity. The law enforcement division numbers almost two hundred and consists of the women and men who are the front line in making our community a safe place to live, work and visit. With a population of almost two hundred thousand and annual tourism that exceeds six million; the law enforcement division handles a vast array of calls and investigates all crime in the unincorporated areas of St. Johns County. The citizens and visitors of St. Johns County enjoy an outstanding quality of life and it is our role to safeguard this.

I encourage you to contact me about your law enforcement concerns. tthompson@sjso.org or (904) 810-6670.

Bio - Todd Thompson, Colonel

Director of Law Enforcement

PERSONAL:

  • Born May 14, 1963 in Atlanta Georgia
  • Married to the former Carol Clark.
  • Father of two.
  • Member of Anastasia Baptist Church, St. Augustine Florida.

EDUCATION:

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida

PROFESSIONAL TRAINING:

  • Southern Police Institute, Administrative Officers Course University of Louisville, Louisville Kentucky
  • Graduate of the St Johns County Chamber of Commerce Leadership St. Johns
  • Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute Executive Leadership Program

POSITIONS HELD- St Johns County Sheriff’s Office:

  • Patrol Deputy (1983-1985)
  • Field Training Officer (1985-1987)
  • Evidence Technician  (1985-1987)
  • SWAT Team Member  (1985-1987)
  • Detective  (1987-1991)
  • Law Enforcement Sergeant  (1991-1997)
  • Law Enforcement Lieutenant  (1997-1999)
  • Administrative Assistant to the Sheriff  (1999-2001)
  • Captain assigned to Administration  (2001-2002)         
  • Patrol Commander  (2002-2005)
  • Major, Deputy Director of Investigations  (2005-2006)
  • Colonel, Director of Law Enforcement  (2006 to Present)

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT:

  • Kiwanis Club of St Augustine
  • Past Member, Board of Directors, St. Johns County Police Athletic League
  • Past Chairman, St. Johns County Juvenile Justice Council
  • Past Member Junior Service League Family Visitation Center Development Committee
  • Past Chaplain, Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 113

RECOGNITIONS:

  • Exchange Club Deputy of the Year- 1987
  • United States Marshals Service Support Award- 1988
  • Northeast Florida Community Action Agency Award- 1992
  • St. Johns Sheriff’s Office Deputy Guy White Award for Job Excellence- 1993
  • Northeast Florida Community Action Agency Award- 1993
  • Northeast Florida Community Action Agency Award- 1994
  • Florida Department of HRS Outstanding Volunteer Service Award- 1994
  • Department of Juvenile Justice Leadership Award- 1998
  • St Johns County Sheriff s Lifesaving Award- 2003
  • Twenty Year Commendation- 2003
  • St Johns County Sheriffs Meritorious Service Award- 2005

Patrol Bureau

Patrol Bureau, commanded by Captain David Messenger, dmessenger@sjso.org, comprised of four (4) shifts providing law enforcement services around the clock to the visitors and citizens of St. Johns County.

The 4 shifts are: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, each supervised by 2 District Shift Commanders holding the rank of Lieutenant with 4 DSC’s assigned to the North District and 4 assigned to the South District.  The District Shift Commanders are responsible for all law enforcement actions taken in their geographical area during their tour of duty.

The following District Shift Commanders are assigned to the North Districts:

The following District Shift Commanders are assigned to the South Districts.

Each District is supervised by a Patrol Shift Sergeant. Our Sergeants are tasked with supervising the patrol deputies that are assigned to the multiple zones within a district. Zones are designated geographical areas located throughout the entire county.

Our deputies who patrol the county are motivated, highly skilled and trained to prepare for any and all situations. They are tasked with a variety of duties that include, but are not limited to preventative patrol, response to calls for service, investigation of all crimes and incidents, arrests of offenders, traffic enforcement, collection and preservation of evidence, collection and reporting intelligence information concerning on-going or planned criminal activity and provide for emergency services during times of disaster. All of our personnel are expected to further the development of relationships between the citizens and visitors of St. Johns County and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.

Our patrol deputies receive the most advanced training to keep them on the cutting edge of law enforcement trends and techniques. Many of our patrol deputies take on collateral duties that include, but are not limited to S.W.AT., Hostage Negotiations, Honor Guard, K-9 Handler, Field Training Officer, Mobile Field Force and a variety of other duties.

The Patrol Bureau also has the responsibility of maintaining the Law Enforcement Reserve Unit. This Reserve Unit is comprised of Professionals within our community, that have taken the time out of their schedule to attend the police academy, which is currently several hundreds hours in length. Once they have completed the police academy they volunteer many hours towards our Training and Evaluation program. This program is also several hundred hours to complete and this consists of class room and field training to prepare them to handle the situations they will encounter while working as a law enforcement deputy.

The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office K9 Unit consists of Full Service K9's, Bloodhounds, and Single purpose odor detection dogs. The Unit currently has (9) Full service dogs which include Criminal Apprehension, Tracking, Article & Building searches with a specialty in an odor detection of either Narcotics or EOD, (1) bloodhound and (1) single purpose narcotics dog which is assigned to our Support Services Division Youth Resource Officer for use in the county school system. The Full service K9's are each assigned to a shift. The unit is looking to expand our K9 teams to 16 within the next few years. The K9 program is made up of highly dedicated K9 handlers and we currently have our own in-house State certified K9 instructors in both Criminal Apprehension and odor detection. The unit currently consists of 1 Lieutenant, 2 Sergeants, and 11 handlers.
(More about the K9 Unit)

Lieutenant Tommy Aman, taman@sjso.org the Patrol Administrator is responsible for the coordination of the Field Training & Evaluation Program. As the agency continues to grow the need to train our new deputies becomes even more important. The program consists of a mini-academy and then four road phases with the new trainee to learn the principles and procedures of the agency. Lieutenant Aman is also the liaison for the Sheriff’s office and the Municipal Service District (MSD) and the primary contact person for the MSD. Along with these duties Lt. Aman has the oversight of the Extra Duty details that come into the Sheriff’s Office on a daily basis for the deputies to be hired in an off-duty status. Any Patrol Issues that directly affect the Patrol unit along with reports that affect the agency with CALEA are handled through this office.

Investigative Bureau

Investigative Bureau is commanded by Captain Mary Fagan. mfagan@sjso.org. The bureau is comprised of three units: Field Investigations Unit, the Special Investigations Unit and Investigative Support Unit.

Field Investigations Unit is commanded by Lieutenant Charles Bradley cbradley@sjso.org and is comprised of the following sections:

  • Robbery/Homicide Section - led by Sergeant Randy McCullough, rmccullough@sjso.org investigates all violent crimes - aggravated battery, robbery, home invasion, car-jackings, industrial accidents involving serious injury, and conducts crime analytics. This section also registers and monitors sexual predators; obtains, records and disseminates intelligence information; attends drug court and monitors participants, works closely with the court and state attorney’s office in identifying and monitoring habitual juvenile offenders and identifies and tracks adult career criminals. Investigates all murders, suicides, and other deaths, as well as working all cold case homicides.
  • Special Victims Unit - led by Sergeant William Werle, wwerle@sjso.org investigates sexual battery complaints, crimes against children, domestic violence cases, stalking incidents and injunction violations, and works closely with the Department of Children and Families, Child Protection Team, the Betty Griffin House and the State Attorneys Office.
  • Property Crimes Section - led by Sgt. Chris Wensil, cwensil@sjso.org investigates burglary, theft, criminal mischief, stolen vehicles, identify theft, credit card fraud, crimes against the elderly, flimflams, arson and environmental crimes.
  • Investigative Support Unit - led by Mrs. Angie Hosford, ahosford@sjso.org provides assistance with crimes scene processing, and the collection storage and disposition of evidence.

Special Investigations Unit - commanded by Lt. Tommy Aman, haman@sjso.org is comprised of the Special Investigations Section and participation in the Tri-County Task Force.

  • The Special Investigations Section - led by Sergeant Mike Strausbaugh, mstrausbaugh@sjso.org and tasked with investigating narcotics complaints by conducting undercover operations including surveillance and drug buys, resulting in the execution of search warrants.

Want to report illegal drug activity? If you have observed any illegal drug activity and would like to advise us about it, email: mstrausbaugh@sjso.org, or call (904) 209-2435 and ask for the Special Investigations Unit.

Contact - Todd Thompson, Colonel

DO NOT REPORT CRIMES OR INCIDENTS OF ANY TYPE OVER THE INTERNET OR BY E-MAIL. DEPENDING ON THE NATURE OR SERIOUSNESS OF THE INCIDENT, EITHER CALL 911 OR (904) 824-8304.

Colonel Thompson contact information:
tthompson@sjso.org