JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office won't confirm details until Wednesday, but the Fraternal Order of Police says 48 officers are being laid off and 23 vacant positions are being eliminated.
According to figures obtained by Channel 4, the cuts represent about 4 percent of the 1,651 Jacksonville officers on the force before the layoffs began.
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An unknown number of civilian employees were also expected to lose their jobs.
"We're going back to numbers of three years ago when we were the No. 1 murder capital of Florida," said FOP President Nelson Cuba.
Sheriff John Rutherford said he had proposed cutting $16.5 million from what he described as an already lean budget, but the City Council cut another $1.2 million. After the budget vote, Rutherford said the budget reduction would require the elimination of about 100 positions -- up to 70 of those sworn officers.
Cuba said some officers were called to turn in their badges, guns, patrol cars and other issued equipment on Monday evening, and more were called in Tuesday to do the same.
None of the officers let go would talk about the process because they were hoping to be rehired when positions become available due to retirements or other reasons.
Rutherford had said that officers with the least seniority would be laid off -- mostly patrol officers riding the midnight shift -- and that other officers would be moved from other shifts and duties to cover.
Cuba said a lot of the layoffs affect officers in Zone 4 on the Westside. City Councilman Jim Love represents a large chunk of that area.
"I've talked to the sheriff personally, and the sheriff said he's going to do his best to infill from other areas, to make sure that we're covered," said City Councilman Jim Love. "He did say what would happen is we might have a little slower service if we have a car accident and nobody is hurt, and the community service officer is going to take a little more time to get there because there (are) less of them."
"If you're taking officers from one location, one position, wherever they were at to another, then somebody is going to be lacking," Cuba said.
Channel 4 was told by the FOP that the officers losing their jobs were from the June 2011 and Spring 2010 graduating classes from the police academy.
Cuba said that Orange and Pinellas counties are hiring certified officers, so many of the officers Duval County paid to be train will go to work for other agencies.
Restaurant owner Bobby Kapuschansky said that last week he asked his customers to sign a petition to the city to try and save officers' jobs.
"Where Jacksonville has come in the last 5-6 years and in improving the area of the city, to lay off cops now is ridiculous. It's a giant step backwards," said Kapuschansky, who owns Carmine's Pie House in Riverside. "Find the money. Find the money. That's the answer. The money has to be found. As a community, safety is No. 1, period."
Rutherford is expected to speak publicly on Wednesday, when the layoffs are expected to be complete.