Collier County Sheriff's Office

An $8 million-plus request from The Collier County Sheriff's Office is among the $90 million in grants for local law enforcement agencies for items related to enforcement of illegal immigration approved by Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet on Tuesday.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the second highest amount of funds in its proposal – a little over $8 million. About $5 million of the money will be used for communication equipment, including radios. Notably, the county is asking for $600,000 for two Skywatch mobile towers to “enhance situation awareness and support immigration enforcement operations.”

Protecting kids from abuse and exploitation online is focus of program held by Collier schools, sheriff's department.

When a penny stock company in Arizona called Bourque Industries was looking to sell a new form of protective body armor to law enforcement agencies around the country back in 2011, nobody was buying it. Then the Collier County Sheriff’s Office stepped up.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has almost doubled its drone unit in the past year. Thirty-four new rapidly deployable drones are ready to soar within seconds of being on scene and are being used for multiple purposes like finding a missing person, or observing an area to ensure it is safe for the public and law enforcement.

An attempt to rescue a nine-and-a-half-foot-long stranded pilot whale calf along the beaches of Pelican Bay on Monday was not successful and plans have been made to euthanize the aquatic mammal.

Choking is the fourth leading cause of accidental death with one child is lost to choking every five days and a total of 5000 people a year. But there is a device that has the potential to help lessen those chances — the LifeVac — and now Collier County Sheriff Office units will all have one of the life-savers. Collier Sheriff Kevin Rambosk displayed the LifeVac at a special media briefing Thursday at the Professional Development Center in Collier County and said the Sheriff's Office is adding 500 LifeVac choking rescue devices, enough to equip every CCSO patrol vehicle.The donation was made possible by The Cassata Foundation and LifeVac inventor and CEO Arthur Lih. Foundation trustees Rosario S. Cassata and his wife Carolyn Cassata are Collier County residents. Lih lives in Southwest Florida as well.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office said shortly before 2 p.m. that it had likely found the body of Arielle Valdez, 21, the Fort Myers woman missing since Wednesday. Searchers in Collier County meanwhile continued looking for a missing Golden Gate Estates man, Eduardo Ramirez, 64, whose vehicle was found in a remote area off Beck Boulevard in East Naples.

Searchers in Collier County continued looking Saturday for a missing Golden Gate Estates man whose vehicle was found in a remote area off Beck Boulevard in East Naples. The Collier County Sheriff's Office said deputies are actively looking for Eduardo Ramirez, 64, in that area.

First responders and others who spent nearly a week looking for a missing Naples woman expressed surprise and joy after she was found safe but locked in a neighbor’s garage the entire time. On Monday Collier County Undersheriff Jim Bloom held a briefing on the ordeal of 80-year old Margaret Galloway. He said it was incredible she was found safe.