Sheriff Paul Babeu at GCBA

GOLD CANYON - Approximately 35 people attended the May 26, 2009 meeting of the Gold Canyon Business Association (GCBA) featuring guest speaker Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who gave an overview of his plans for the department and revealed what he called his “Butts In Beats” policing concept.

With just six months under his belt, the first Republican sheriff in the history of Pinal County, Sheriff Paul Babeu, recapped departmental accomplishments and goals he has set, with transparency, training and accountability topping the list. Babeu also revealed his newly implemented “Butts in Beats” policing concept.

Rather than roaming the entire county, Pinal County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) deputies are now assigned to 18 specific beats within the county, which is divided into three regions. The Butts in Beats concept requires deputies to remain in their assigned beat area, thus ending any past practice of multiple deputies congregating in one location or engaging in long dinner or lunch breaks together.

While the deputies will be required to remain in their assigned beats, they can provide cross-over assistance when needed. Deputies will no longer be blindly dispatched to locations across the county; instead, the closest deputy to the situation will be the one who responds to a call. Babeu said the implementation of this policy should not only reduce response times, but should also cut down on the number of crashes involving PCSO vehicles, which Babeu said totaled 30 last year.

“The staff has been very supportive of the changes,” said Babeu who has been working to fulfill campaign promises to bring 21st Century technology to the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), despite budget cuts in a downturn economy. Babeu has already provided first aid and CPR certification training to nearly 500 employees, installed Global Positioning Systems (GPS) in 100 cars and has equipped 62 patrol vehicles with on-board computers.

In addition to adding on-board computers and GPS to vehicles, Babeu is also working to enhance radio communications capabilities in an effort to further his goal of reduced response times and increased officer and civilian safety. According to Babeu, current PCSO response times are running 13.6 minutes for a Priority One call, 18 to 19 minutes for a Priority Two and between 22 to 25 minutes for a Priority Three call. Babeu finds these numbers “outside of what is acceptable” and is shooting for a 10 minute benchmark in Priority One response times.“A cultural shift is occurring in Pinal County; this is no longer a sleepy 180,000 person county,” says Babeu who sees Pinal County moving from its current number three position, to becoming the second largest county in the state in the very near future. He says he is planning for this evolution by combining “the very best of the past with the best in the future”.  

New GCBA Members

GoldCanyonToday.com, the community’s premiere local online news source, was presented with a GCBA new membership certificate and the new owners of Gecko Espresso, Amber and Ian Smith, were introduced to those attending. An update was given on the GCBA Welcome Bag project and website improvements, along with the latest news on local National Day of the Cowboy celebrations planned for the weekend of July 24, 25 and 26.