Sworn Statement

It’s the holiday season, and Sheriff Kevin Rambosk wants to help you stay safe while shopping. In this episode, CCSO’s Crime Prevention unit tells you how to protect yourself and your belongs while getting gifts – whether you’re shopping at stores, buying online, or having gifts delivered to your home.

CCSO’s Victim Advocacy Unit provides support and crisis care for survivors of crime. Within that unit is our Senior Services group that specializes in protecting aging adults and providing resources to caregivers. In this episode, find out how our Senior Advocates keep these vulnerable people safe, and how the Collier County Sheriff’s Office helps families prevent their loved ones from going missing.

Prevention, intervention, treatment, wellness. That's the philosophy of the Collier County Sheriff's Office Behavioral Health Bureau (BHB), which helps people in crisis resulting from mental illness or substance use struggles. In this episode members of our BHB describe how CCSO is addressing mental health in our community by providing support and resources to those who need it.

Are e-bikes allowed on the road? What about e-scooters? Are helmets required? Are there different rules for different types of e-bikes? How can we make the roads safer for both riders and drivers? In this episode we break down all the rules and regulations for e-bikes, e-scooters and e-motos. We’ll also tell you what you need to know to stay safe on one of these electronic modes of transportation, plus how to protect your e-bike from theft.

You might think of shoplifting as a minor crime, but it can have major impacts. Retail theft causes stores to raise prices for law-abiding citizens. And many times suspects who shoplift go on to commit more serious crimes. In this episode, two members of Retail Theft Unit discuss their efforts to prevent these crimes, how they track down thieves, and why it’s vital to our community.

In this episode we’re exploring one of the essential roles of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, but one most people are unfamiliar with – bailiffs. Bailiffs are vital to the safety and security of our courts. CCSO bailiffs Sgt. Juan Muniz and Cpl. Kevin Dennis join us to explain their jobs, how they work with judges, and why they’re essential in keeping the courts running smoothly. They also explain why the role of bailiff is a career you should consider.

This is the height of hurricane season. More hurricanes have hit Florida in September than in any other month. That includes two of the biggest storm to ever strike Southwest Florida – Irma in 2017, and Ian in 2022. In this episode we look back at Irma and Ian, and discuss what lessons we can learn from them going forward. We'll tell you how to be prepared before and during a hurricane, but also what to do and how to protect yourself after the storm.

When people go missing, the deputies of the Collier County Sheriff’s Office follow every trail and investigate every lead possible to try to find them. Even if those leads go cold, a missing person case is never closed. Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and his deputies are always searching. But what does that search look like? How do our detectives investigate? Where do they look? What tools does CCSO have to find missing people? And why do we work so hard to solve these cases? In this episode we discuss the great lengths CCSO goes to in order to find missing persons.

As we enter hurricane season, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office are prepared to protect our community in any scenario. That’s why CCSO has partnered with the emergency communications team in Charleston, South Carolina. In program that’s one of the first of its kind, CCSO and Charleston will serve as each other’s backups if either 911 system goes down due to a hurricane or any other largescale emergency. In this episode, we’re looking at how this partnership is possible. How can two jurisdictions separated by 600 miles answer each other’s calls and get first responders where they need to go? And what does it mean for the people of Southwest Florida, and those in Charleston?

For National Correctional Officers Week, we taking a look at our deputies inside the jails who are responsible for the safety of the inmates. Our Corrections Department’s mission is to create a safer community by effectively managing offenders and providing opportunities for positive change. In this episode, we talk to three Correctional Officers who are doing just that. We’ll tell you what it’s like to work inside the jail, why it’s a surprisingly rewarding job, and why it might be a career worth looking into.

When there’s a large-scale critical incident in Collier County, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk turns to his Emergency Response Team. The ERT is highly trained in tactical response so it can respond to high-risk situations. Originally started for crowd safety at large gatherings, the ERT has evolved into a multi-purpose, do-it-all team that can respond to any situation to protect the people of Collier County. In this episode, we talk with two members of CCSO’s ERT, Lt. John Russo and First Sgt. James Driscoll. They describe how our ERT became the Swiss Army Knife of our agency. They tell us about their specialized training and all the different situations they’ve responded to – from hurricanes to brush fires to missing persons to protests.

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, but Sheriff Kevin Rambosk works year round to stop this heinous act. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has an entire unit dedicated to investigating and stopping animal neglect, and bringing anyone who harms animals to justice. In this episode we tell you all about our Animal Cruelty Investigations Alliance – how it investigates cases, why it is imperative that we protect animals, and what some of our most prominent and memorable cases have been.

Fingerprints are universal, and they’re unique. That’s what makes them essential in fighting crime. In this episode of Sworn Statement, we talk to the fingerprint experts at the Collier County Sheriff’s Office about the many ways their work helps solve cases. They tell us how fingerprints are discovered, how they’re analyzed, and how they’re stored in order to solve cases in the future. And we tell you what you can do if you’re ever the victim of a crime to preserve fingerprint evidence and help CCSO identify suspects.

It’s Spring Break – the time of year when thousands of visitors pour into Collier County, joining our seasonal snowbirds and permanent residents. March is the busiest month of the year in Southwest Florida, and that means the Collier County Sheriff Office is working harder than ever to keep our community safe. In this episode, we’re taking an all-encompassing look at how CCSO is protecting everyone this Spring Break. Listen to find out how deputies handle the influx of people in our tourist hotspots, hear a beach patrol deputy describe his duties and answer some commonly-asked questions about beach rules, and find out how to protect yourself in public as the county gets busier and busier.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has participated in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) program for nearly two decades. Long before the recent interest in ICE and immigration, CCSO has been using 287(g) to keep criminals off the street. However, there are many questions and misconceptions surrounding the 287(g) program and CCSO’s relationship with ICE. In this episode, Sheriff Kevin Rambosk offers a clear, detailed view of how 287(g) works, what powers it does and doesn’t give CCSO, and how it helps us continue to make Collier County one of the safest communities in the country.

When aerial support is needed quickly, more and more law enforcement agencies are turning to drones. The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has a fleet of drones that can rapidly respond when it might be unpractical or unsafe to use a helicopter or a deputy. In this first episode of the spring season, we tell you all about the amazing capabilities of CCSO’s Drone Unit. We’ll look at the history of the unit, the types of incidents our drones respond to, the fantastic abilities of these machines, and how they help us protect and serve the people of Collier County.

As we prepare for 2025, it’s a good time to talk to Sheriff Rambosk about all that the Collier County Sheriff’s Office does to keep our community safe. In this episode Sheriff Rambosk discusses the challenges facing our county, talks about how CCSO connects with the community, and goes through the training and the technology we use to enhance public safety. The Sheriff also tells us about CCSO’s measures to keep everyone safe this holiday season.

A man is shot in the chest while trying to help a victim of domestic violence. That man is alive today thanks to the decisive actions of a Collier County Sheriff’s Office deputy. In this episode, we’ll tell you how that deputy was able to save the man using the extensive and advanced medical training Sheriff Kevin Rambosk provides to CCSO members. We’ll talk to our medical trainer about how CCSO’s training goes above and beyond most law enforcement agencies; how it goes much deeper than basic first aid and into the type of training that saves soldiers on the battlefield; and how that is saving lives in Collier County. Then we’ll hear a firsthand account of saving a life from the deputy who treated the gunshot victim.

With advances in technology and the rise of artificial intelligence, financial scams are becoming highly sophisticated, and the scammers are becoming much more convincing. It’s now easier than ever for tricksters to take your money. Sheriff Kevin Rambosk and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office are here to help. In this episode members of CCSO’s Financial Crimes Bureau who tell us how to protect yourself and your hard-earned dollars. Sergeant Heather Nichols and Detective Leah Ford explain the latest scams and tell you how to avoid them.

As the roadways of Collier County get more congested, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is working harder than ever to keep the streets safe. In this episode, we’ll show you what CCSO is doing to protect drivers and pedestrians. Our deputies are on the street looking for dangerous behavior – that includes running red lights, aggressive driving, distracted driving, and failing to stop for school buses. We’ll also take a look at the consequences and tragic results of these infractions.