Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight last night defended his decision to close down the public access desk at the south Sarasota County Substation at a town hall meeting at the South Venice Civic Association.
Knight said by closing the desk, he was able to get more people on patrol, saying “We don’t do anything now in an office.”

The Sheriff noted that when the south county substation opened, there were no cell phones, and the primary use for the substation ended up being business owners coming in to report worthless checks.