Be it by air, land, or sea, Volusia County taxpayers can take comfort in the fact that the Volusia Sheriff’s Office has them well-protected.
By air, the Air One unit operates three high-performance, multi-role Bell 407 helicopters, each with a top speed of 160 mph. And if one of the birds is already in the air, it can get anywhere in the county in 10 minutes. The cost? About $19.6 million, just for the helicopters.
On the ground, the Sheriff’s Office is also prepared for trouble. Among the items in the department’s inventory are two armored vehicles and a mobile command center, bought for $1.2 million. Then there are 40 machine guns and submachine guns and a $10,578 military-grade Barrett 50-caliber rifle. The Barrett is capable of piercing light armor and even stopping vehicles, said Robert Diemer, professor of criminal justice at Saint Leo University. “It’s highly used in law enforcement around the country.”
At sea, since 2015, the Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol has acquired five boats for $945,715. The most expensive vessel in the fleet is a 33-foot Life Proof Boat, bought in 2023 for $448,997. Next most expensive is a $321,432 craft, make, and model not specified.
Not all the department acquisitions are weapons. For example, the inventory also includes two high-tech napping pods, each costing $10,325.
Sheriff’s Office budget jumps $52M over three years
So, how were all these items funded? That depends. A few of them are gifts or are paid for through outside sources. But the bulk of them were purchased. The department’s revenue comes mostly from property taxes.
According to county numbers, for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, 2025, the Sheriff’s Office budget is $164.6 million, which is about $52.3 million more than the 2023 budget ($112.3 million). And the total doesn’t include funding for a new headquarters building, which is expected to cost over $38 million.
A homeowner with a taxable property value of $300,000 will pay about $480 to the Law Enforcement Fund, the countywide taxing fund dedicated to the Sheriff’s Office, in 2025-2026.
Most significantly, tax rates, or millage rates, in the county are usually held steady, or even reduced, across various funds because even without a higher rate, most Volusians pay higher taxes due to steady increases in property values.
But for the fiscal year 2024-2025, the Volusia Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Fund tax rate was set at 1.5994 mills, which represents a 10% increase from the previous fiscal year of 1.4541 mills.
The Volusia County Council oversees the Sheriff’s Office budget, but long-time observers say they rarely question individual expenditures during meetings. In 2018, a different Council fought against Amendment 10, a ballot issue that was approved by voters.
The amendment gave constitutional officers, like the sheriff, more independence and more control over their budgets. Sheriff Mike Chitwood supported it; the Council at the time did not. He called them “scumbags of the week” at a press conference after they voted 6-1 to seek an exemption from the amendment.
How many police boats are needed?
Details on the rifle and all the other items in the Sheriff’s Office’s inventory came from capital asset reports covering fiscal 2024 and 2025. The 2024 report lists 7,936 items with a cost basis of $83.9 million. The 2025 report lists 8,279 items for $86.1 million.
The reports describe the asset, provide the cost, and show how much it has depreciated over time. Most of the items are listed as purchases, though some are listed as “other” or “gift.”
The report does not list the funding source used to obtain the items. Some of the items might have been donated. Only the report dated Sept. 30, 2024, had updated depreciation numbers with a current value for the items.
Sometimes the cops really do need an armored truck
It might be easy to accuse the sheriff of wasting money. But nobody complained about how much the county spent on armored vehicles when Joseph DiFusco Jr. opened fire on neighbors’ properties and deputies at his Ormond-by-the-Sea condo complex on Thanksgiving in 2024.
The 56-year-old military veteran and convicted felon from Connecticut had been experiencing mental health problems, including “delusions, hallucinations, manic behavior, and (making) threats to his wife’s and daughter’s lives,” according to the Sheriff’s Office.
By Thanksgiving Day, he had amassed an arsenal that allowed him to spray over 700 rounds from his condo, peppering neighboring buildings with bullets.
The Volusia Sheriff’s Office used an armored vehicle to dislodge DiFusco. He was killed by a police sniper. There were no other casualties.
Chitwood said on Facebook that the heavy equipment was crucial. Sheriff’s deputies used ballistic shields, drones, and two armed vehicles, a “BearCat” and a “Rook.”
“There are critics out there who like to say that equipment makes us ‘militarized,’” he wrote on Dec. 5, 2024. “When a shooter with a Tommy gun is firing 700 rounds, or when he’s barricaded in his house and setting it on fire like we saw last year in Deltona, I want my Volusia Sheriff’s Office deputies protected by the best equipment we can give them.”
The Sheriff’s Office lists the BearCat in its inventory. The vehicle, fully described as a 2021 Ford F-550 BearCat, was acquired for $337,650.
The BearCat is purpose-built for law enforcement, according to Travis Norton, a retired police lieutenant from Southern California and a police practices expert. “BearCat is kind of the industry standard because … they work very well,” he said.
The vehicles allow law enforcement to go on the offense in active shooter situations while staying relatively safe. The vehicles are used in hostage situations, dangerous arrests, and other scenarios, Chitwood said in 2020, when the County Council approved the BearCat purchase. They’re also useful for rescuing residents during flooding.
A Rook is an armored, tactical vehicle custom-designed and fabricated by Ring Power Corp. It sits on a Caterpillar chassis, according to the Ring Power website, and looks sort of like a large, souped-up warehouse forklift with a shield on the front. It moves on treads, sort of like a tank.
The driver can keep deputies safe while approaching a dangerous situation.
Ring Power offers features on The Rook, such as bullet-proof glass, gun port holes, cameras and a breaching ram, among other things.
The Sheriff’s Office was criticized for requesting that the county approve funding to purchase the BearCat five years ago. At a Council meeting, Daytona Beach NAACP President Cynthia Slater stated that the sheriff was moving to militarize the department. The News-Journal asked Slater if the Sheriff’s Office is too militarized now.
“Much has changed since 2020 as it relates to threats of violence in communities,” she stated via email. “Military and armored vehicles should be used for the purpose for which they are designed for. It is my hope that the department uses these vehicles when absolutely necessary.”
The News-Journal also asked Slater if the Sheriff’s Office shares enough information with residents on its weapons, armored vehicles and other high-powered equipment.
“I don’t believe so,” she stated. “Communities should know and understand the types and quality of weapons as well as what they are used for, how they are used, and when they are used.”
The Sheriff’s Office and its ‘mack daddy’ helicopter
The Sheriff’s Office’s helicopters were acquired in 2023 and 2024 for over $19.58 million.
The helicopters are “powerful and extremely maneuverable,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. Air One is on 24 hours a day, every day.
The helicopters also assist all law enforcement agencies, fire departments, and emergency medical service organizations in the county.
When the sheriff sought to make a budget change in July of 2023 so he could buy a $6.8 million Bell 407 helicopter, the county council had some questions. At a meeting, District 1 Volusia County Councilman Don Dempsey asked whether the Sheriff’s Office could go with a more affordable helicopter.
“Those are kind of the mack daddy in helicopters, right?” he asked. At-Large Representative Jake Johansson asked whether the Sheriff’s Office looked at other possibilities.
Sheriff’s Office Capt. Erik Eagan said that lower-priced options had been discussed, but the Sheriff’s Office didn’t look at other types of helicopters.
“That’s what our pilots are trained to fly,” he told the council. “They work very well for our operation.”
The Sheriff’s Office planned to pay for the aircraft with proceeds from a mix of funding, including the sale of another helicopter, American Rescue Plan Act funds, and the Sheriff’s Office Capital Facilities Fund.
Does Volusia really need three helicopters?
The Bell 407 helicopters would be on one expert’s list to take a closer look at.
Thomas Shea is a law enforcement and security expert witness for Evidence Solutions Inc. He’s also a former police commander in New Jersey and a speaker and author on a variety of law enforcement-related topics.
If Shea were asked to do an efficiency study of Volusia County, he would ask about the need for $6 million-plus helicopters, he said.
“They might be able to justify it,” Shea said. “But I’ve also had cases during efficiency studies where … whoever the officers are in that particular unit don’t want to lose their toys, right, so there’s a lot of that that goes on too.”
The Sheriff’s Office inventory includes WESCAM imaging systems, acquired for over $900,000, among its aviation and tools. The technology includes infrared capabilities and other features.
One tool, a WESCAM MX-25 imaging system, is suited “for ultra-high, long-endurance surveillance and reconnaissance missions,” according to the L3Harris Technologies website. The other, a WESCAM MX-10 imaging system, is “ideal for low-altitude tactical surveillance and reconnaissance missions.”
At sea: Volusia Sheriff’s Office Marine One and some top-shelf boats
In February, the Sheriff’s Office’s fleet came in handy when the agency got a call about a boat spinning in circles on Lake Dias, a 740-acre lake near DeLeon Springs. A man was lying unresponsive in the boat as it circled, and the Sheriff’s Office and Volusia County Fire Rescue responded.
Sheriff’s deputies pulled a Marine Unit boat near the circling vessel, waiting for a chance to act. John Kyp, a Fire Rescue official, jumped from the Sheriff’s Office vessel to the man’s boat and stopped it. The team got the man to shore for treatment, and he was expected to fully recover.
The Marine Unit’s duties include “patrolling Volusia County waters, enforcing boating laws, and search and rescue missions.”
For agencies like the Volusia Sheriff’s Office, how do you know when enough is enough?
Officials give a brief overview of the Sheriff’s Office’s budget at Volusia County budget meetings. People see an overall budget and property tax rate proposal. But the presentation doesn’t typically get into many details about what the Sheriff’s Office plans to buy.
While people can file public records requests, they can be costly and time-consuming, and sometimes people don’t know what to ask for. Shea said law enforcement agencies should regularly do an efficiency study on how they’re spending money.
“There’s a lot of politics that goes into this, so you need someone from outside the political machine to look at everything objectively,” he said.
Norton said he advises law enforcement leaders to engage with their communities about their tools. “Just let people know why you have this equipment,” he said.
One option is to take them to community events. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office does that.
Purchase of power-napping pods raises questions
Certainly one of the most unusual expenditures that showed up in the inventory data was $20,650 spent on two “MetroNaps EnergyPods” in January, 2025. These are high-tech beds designed for people who want to take a power nap at work.
The pods come with “specially composed sleep music” and a “gentle wake sequence of programmed lights and vibrations.”
Diemer said the idea isn’t as crazy as it seems, especially in a job that requires long hours to tend to hostage negotiations and disasters. “I think they’re phenomenal if you had a stress pod that you could put in a mobile command post,” he said.
Shea said allowing officers who work the overnight shift to take a nap to recharge, when the call volume is low, wouldn’t be a bad thing.
“But as far as a $10,000 nap pod? I can be sure that there’s more than likely better uses of that money on higher priority items,” he said.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Volusia Sheriff’s Office oversees vast arsenal. Here’s what’s in it.
Reporting by Sheldon Gardner, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
