Article
and Video Courtesy of
BayNews
9
HILLSBOROUGH
COUNTY
(Bay
News 9)
The
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says deputies are having a
difficult time gaining access to homes and apartments in gated
communities when dealing with emergency calls, so this week deputies
will ask county commissioners to help them come up with a special
entrance plan.
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Watch
VIDEO
Published August 6, 2007
Deputies
can't always get
inside
gated communities easily.
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Currently,
the sheriff's office keeps a written log of gate access codes, allowing
deputies to get through security gates in response to 911 calls and other
emergency work, but not all gated communities are letting the sheriff's
office know when gate codes change.
Therefore, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office public information officer
J.D. Callaway says they're pushing to make it a requirement for all gated
communities to install a $1,500 piece of equipment that can receive a
radio frequency. When deputies or emergency responders arrive at the gate,
they would use their radios to open the gate automatically.
"We would hope that apartment complexes or subdivisions would look at
the price of that system as just a safety issue," said Callaway.
"Safety for the people that live behind the gates, but [also] safety
for the deputies."
Fred Alleva has lived in the gated Oxford Place in Tampa Palms for the
past year. He likes the idea of making things easier on emergency
responders.
"I wouldn't have a problem with having a device that would certainly
decrease the amount of [response] time," said Alleva.
County commissioners will likely determine the full scope of the gate
access problem before drafting the law the sheriff's office wants,
therefore it could take months for them to come up with a recommendation
that's fair to property owners.
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