This Month's Speaker:
Sargent Duane Benton
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Behavioral Resources Unit
will be speaking on the topic of:
"HCSO Behavioral Resources Unit"
1 CLE Credit Pending
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES:
Sergeant Duane Benton:
Sergeant Benton began his career in the criminal justice system in 1991 as a Probation and Parole Officer with the Florida Department of Corrections. He supervised many interesting cases during his 5 years and worked a geographic area near the University of South Florida known as “Suitcase City” due to its transient population.
Sergeant Benton desired a career change and started with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in 1996. Sergeant Benton has been in Patrol, a Field Training Officer, a SWAT Team member, and a Certified Instructor in General Law Enforcement Subject Matter, Firearms, and Tactics. Sergeant Benton has worked assignments as a Staff Inspections and Procedural Detective and in the Internal Affairs Bureau. As a Detective, Sergeant Benton functioned primarily as a policy analyst, conducted organizational performance auditing, and investigated corruption. Due to Sergeant Benton’s background, he was also tasked with many other projects at the discretion of the Command Staff.
Sergeant Benton was promoted to Corporal in charge of a Field Training Squad within the Department of Patrol Services. The squad was tasked with the implementation of a field training curriculum for newly hired Deputy Sheriff Recruits. Sergeant Benton was challenged by Command Staff to assist in the design and implementation of an Intelligence Led Policing (ILP) Model at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office. ILP is a policing model that uses crime intelligence data and analysis to focus organizational resources more accurately for the purposes of crime rate reduction and resolution.
With the extremely successful implementation of ILP, Sergeant Benton was appointed as the Corporal of the Intelligence Unit within a key patrol area and eventually developed the organization wide intelligence operation called the LINC (Law enforcement Intelligence Nexus Center). After successful implementation of the LINC, Sergeant Benton served in the Court Operations Division where he was tasked with the homeland security and risk management for the 13th Judicial Circuit in the State of Florida, which involved more than 70 judges, courts, and numerous constitutionally elected officers. Sergeant Benton has made many impactful changes to enhance the security and operational integrity of the 13th Judicial Circuit.
In June 2020, Sergeant Benton was selected to lead the implementation of a Behavioral Resources Unit at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, which utilizes a team of law enforcement deputies, licensed mental health practitioners, and social workers to identify and mitigate cases from becoming chronic, high utilizers of the criminal justice system. In other words, help divert those with behavioral health needs from becoming unnecessary criminal participants within the justice system and to assist in the prevention of potentially dangerous confrontations with law enforcement.
Sergeant Duane Benton ABN 4070
Behavioral Resources Unit
behavioralresourcesunit@hcso.tampa.fl.us
3671 West Waters Avenue
Tampa, Florida 33614
813-242-5544 (Office)
813-363-8517 (Mobile)
dbenton@hcso.tampa.fl.us
BHCM (Behavior Health Case Manager) Lauren Alston LCSW:
Lauren Alston is a native of Southwest Florida, having grown up in Sarasota County. She has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2009 after graduating with her Master of Social Work from Florida State University in Tallahassee. Since gaining her degree Lauren has worked with a variety of populations all across the state of Florida including both children and adults. She has spent the last 3 years of her career working with the forensic population. Lauren has proudly joined Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 and feels HCSO is a perfect match for her ongoing desire to serve the community.
