Kids make mistakes. Our juvenile diversion program exists so that a kid who commits a foolish crime – a minor scuffle or vandalism – has a chance to participate in community-based disciplinary alternatives and get a clean slate. But what do you do with the kids who don’t learn from their mistakes? When a young person is given multiple chances to reform but continues to commit crimes, advancing from misdemeanors to felonies and even gun crimes, it may be time for the Habitual Offender Monitoring Enforcement Unit (HOME) to step in.

“We have about 200 kids being monitored right now,” said Sergeant Randy Hart. Young people can qualify for monitoring in several ways, including being on probation and having at least five felonies within a 12-month period. They may also be monitored as part of the Response Against Delinquency and Recidivism (RADAR). HOME keeps their eye on some up-and-comers too, kids who are quickly racking up big charges. Young people monitored by the HOME unit are committing crimes such as selling drugs, shoplifting, auto burglaries, and grand theft auto. They’re getting guns through car burglaries, then using them in the commission of other crimes, or selling them. These aren’t youthful hi-jinks or momentary errors of judgment – these are criminal patterns that will only continue and worsen if they aren’t checked.

The goal of HOME is to prevent these kids from committing more crimes, and make sure they face the consequences if they do. “They’re victimizing citizens of Pinellas County, and we try to keep them at bay as best we can by doing probation and curfew checks. We’re shrinking down the hours of when they can go out and potentially commit crimes.”

HOME Unit members Deputy Chris Huddleston and Deputy Anthony Caruso go out every evening at random times to visit the kids and make sure the kids are obeying their curfew and following any terms of their probation. If not, they can issue probable cause for their arrest. But HOME is about far more than just knocking on doors. “We find a lot of other ways to track them, and link them to other crimes and other criminals,” said Sergeant Hart. “We get creative.” They’ll do their own surveillance, and also work with our Burglary, Robbery and Homicide, and other specialty units. HOME deputies know most of the major youthful offenders, so if Burglary has a video of a young suspect they’ll send it to HOME, and they can often identify them or their associates. 

For some kids under supervised release, a judge has ordered them to wear an ankle monitor. Juvenile Electronic Monitoring Specialist (JEMS) Zanetta Starks is one of the members who fits the monitors, explains the rules, and then keeps track of the kids as long as they wear the monitor. She is part of a 24/7 operation that includes five JEMS and a JEMS supervisor who attend court daily to testify and support the operation. The unit also has a dedicated Intelligence Led Policing analyst.

“Most of them are restricted to home, school, and work,” Starks said. “They have to charge the monitor for two hours a day. If the battery dies we can’t track them, so the penalty is serious – they get arrested.” She gets notified when the battery reaches 15 percent and will try to call them and their parents. “The wearer also gets an alert to their ankle monitor – it flashes and vibrates, indicating that they should call immediately. It is enough to wake them up. This is a 24 hour a day operation, so parents might be getting phone calls about their kid’s low battery at 2 a.m. The parents get pretty mad.”

The monitors are fitted with a strap like a big zip tie and have a tamper pin so the strap can’t be forced open without sending an alert to the monitoring company, which would then contact Starks or another one of the JEMS. An alert also goes out if the strap is cut. Removing or interfering with the monitor is a third degree felony. Whatever happens – whether the battery dies, the monitor is cut, or the wearer enters a restricted zone – an alert gets sent within seconds. “If they cut it, they don’t get very far,” Starks said. Their location can be monitored 24 hours a day.

Most of the HOME kids are male. “But we’ve been seeing a lot more females lately,” said Sergeant Hart. Though the numbers vary, there’s about a 5-to-1 ratio. “Females are getting the same charges. Shoplifting at Ulta, some have grand theft autos, some are selling drugs.”

Some of the HOME kids are starting their life of crime shockingly young. “The youngest we’ve had was 11,” said Sergeant Hart. “He was stealing cars. He took one and wrecked on 275.” They’ll monitor them up to age 19. 

Kids monitored by HOME run the gamut of backgrounds. “Some of the kids are from low income, single parent families, with one parent in jail, but we also have a couple of kids living in million-dollar mansions.” Some of these kids barely have a chance, caught in an intergenerational web that it can be nearly impossible to escape from. And though some parents support HOME’s efforts to monitor their child, others resist every step of the way. “Unfortunately, it can follow families through generations,” Sergeant Hart said. “One young man was killed a couple of years ago, and now his brother is on probation doing the same thing: stealing cars, breaking into cars, firearms charges. You’d think after losing one son to violence the mom would want to do something about it, but she still gives us attitude every time we come to the door.”

He tells a story of HOME Task Force deputies running into a former HOME kid at a restaurant. “They asked him why he did all that, and he said there were just no consequences. He knew the worst that would happen is that he’d be in PJAC (Pinellas Juvenile Assessment Center) for 21 days.” Things have been gradually changing. There are now enhanced penalties for kids who commit a crime with a firearm or are delinquents in possession of a firearm. “The sheriff has been instrumental over the last few years in getting legislation changed, and it has given us more tools that we can work with.” 

HOME also has officers from St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, Largo, and Clearwater on its team. Since the unit began operations in 2016 they’ve helped reduce juvenile crime. “When HOME started there were stolen cars everywhere, burglaries everywhere. You’d hear the alert tone all the time on midnight shift: 21 (the signal code for a burglary) in progress. It still happens, but not nearly as often as it did back then. Are we stopping all of the crime? No. But we’re shrinking the window when they can commit crimes and holding them accountable if they do.” 



It’s a classic snapshot from a family Spring Break at one of our lovely Pinellas County beaches: a little kid running barefoot over the dunes with their bucket and shovel to play in the sand. But Indian Rocks Beach (IRB) Deputy Geoff Moore wants you to know that our dunes are precious – and protected.

“Families just let their kids dig into the dunes, like they’re trying to make a snow fort,” Deputy Moore said. He’s been working in IRB for about a year now, ever since he joined the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). Before that he was a police officer in a beach town in Rochester, New Hampshire. The issues are similar in many vacation spots. People travel there to relax and do the things they don’t get to do at home, and they don’t always know the rules. They just see a kid digging in a dune, but locals see the destruction of a precious natural resource, one that both nurtures wildlife and protects our barrier islands from the ravages of hurricanes.

Simply put, without strong dunes, there would be no Indian Rocks Beach.

Beach dunes are high piles of sand above the average high-water line, running parallel to the water. A loose pile of sand can be easily swept away by wind, storm, and tide, but an established dune is covered in hardy plants that specialize in the salt life. Sea oats, which are protected by the state of Florida, are grassy plants with a deep, strong root system that serves to anchor the sand in place. Plants that grow in nutrient-poor sand tend to have huge roots that grow in search of nutrients, and these help to keep the dunes in place. Other plants like beach morning glory, dune sunflowers, and sea purslane fill in the gaps, creating a blanket of vegetation that protects the dune.

These mounds are critical to protecting the barrier islands from storm surge, and the barrier islands themselves help protect Pinellas County’s mainland from hurricane damage. The dunes are strong, but they aren’t immune to storms. In 2023, Hurricane Idalia destroyed dune lines up and down our barrier islands, pushing sand over streets or sweeping it out to sea, and destroying the deep-rooted plants. Since then, the county has spent millions to restore the dunes, trucking in sand and replanting sea oats.

Until the plants get established, the dunes are vulnerable. A bad winter storm in December swept away some of the progress, and the dunes remain at risk until the sea oats and other plants are firmly rooted. Something as simple as walking on them can kill plants and make the dunes less stable.

Deputy Moore says we need your help to save the dunes. Pay attention to the ropes and signs that mark restored dunes. Walk in designated areas only, and don’t trample on vegetation. Watch your kids – a good idea at the beach for many reasons – and don’t let them play on or dig in the dunes. If you’re a local, let out of state visitors know why our dunes are important, and how to protect them. And if you see someone destroying the dunes, you can call PCSO.

Deputy Moore said it can be a challenge to get tourists to pay attention. “People are on vacation, and they don’t want to listen. Their mentality is sometimes I’m on vacation, there are no rules.” He goes out of his way to educate people, but a citation is always a last resort if they decide they don’t care about protecting our dunes. “I don’t want to be that guy who ruins their vacation, but we have laws for a reason.”