Customer Stories
The hurricane doesn’t always arrive full throttle. Sometimes, it creeps in slowly—the sky darkens, the air thickens, and radios start to buzz a little more urgently. In Hillsborough County, Florida, where storms are a seasonal certainty, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office doesn’t wait for the skies to tell them it’s time. Their readiness begins long before the first raindrop falls.
We’ve stopped calling it storm response, it’s storm planning—constant, year-round. We don’t wing it. We rehearse it.
Each year, Hoopes and his team coordinate a hurricane workshop that draws in county partners—from Tampa Electric to the Emergency Operations Center—alongside internal leadership from every patrol district. The goal is simple but critical: get everyone on the same page before a storm hits. That preparation culminates in a full-scale tabletop exercise using the agency’s centralized command and communication system, simulating requests for everything from sandbags to high-water rescue assets. “It’s what we’d use in a real storm,” Hoopes says. “If you don’t train on the systems you’ll actually deploy, then you’re not really preparing.”
But even the best-laid plans demand adaptability. In the past year alone, Hillsborough weathered two very different storms—one brought coastal flooding, the other inundated neighborhoods never known to flood. The response had to pivot in real time. That’s where tech and teamwork converge.
Weather data now comes not just from national updates but from weather stations placed across the county, providing live wind, rain, and visual conditions. “It helps us make the call on when to stop patrols in different parts of our 1,000-square-mile jurisdiction,” Hoopes explains.
Communication tools ensure deputies, even those off duty, can access and send updated intel—photos of fallen trees, requests for supplies, or damage reports—through a single, evolving link. It’s not just about receiving updates; it’s about giving deputies an effective way to communicate during crisis.
During one recent storm, social media swirled with rumors that a dam was breaking. HCSO deployed a helicopter equipped with FLIR cameras, capturing live images of the dam intact. Within hours, public fears were eased with facts. “People think of drones or real-time crime centers only in terms of policing,” Hoopes notes, “but during a storm, they become eyes on flooded roads, stranded people, or damaged infrastructure. And that helps save lives, not just fight crime.”
That same footage—body cams, drone feeds—becomes a different kind of tool afterward. Not just for media or public reassurance, but as evidence. Not for crimes, but for budget requests, equipment justification, and after-action reviews. “You can show what didn’t work and why. That’s how we got the high-water vehicles with hydraulic ramps for evacuating wheelchair-bound patients,” Hoopes explains. “We learned after last season that we had the big boats,” he added, “but what we needed were more shallow-water vessels—airboats, inflatables, even amphibious Sherp vehicles. Because the rescues weren’t coastal. They were in flooded suburban streets.”
And the people behind the planning are also living it. Many deputies must leave their families behind in evacuation zones to serve their community. Others have their own homes flooded. That’s where wellness support kicks in—counseling, peer support, and practical help like getting debris cleared or tarps on roofs. “If their families are safe, they can focus on the job,” says Hoopes.
It’s the logistics behind the scenes that often go unnoticed. Generators positioned across districts, satellite systems for internet backup, caches of waders and boots stocked after last year’s mad dash to outfit deputies in contaminated floodwaters. The department even pre-plans meals with restaurants that plan to stay open, and repurpose their cadets to help clean debris from colleagues’ homes so they can focus on the job at hand.
Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office rescue footage
Ultimately, it’s about continuity—of service, of communication, of care. It’s a model that any agency, regardless of geography, can learn something from.
“Whether it’s a tornado in Texas or a blizzard up north, it’s about having a plan, a backup to that plan, and people you trust in the room before the storm ever hits,” Hoopes says. “Because when it does hit, your community doesn’t just need you—they’re counting on you.”
And in Hillsborough County, they’ll be ready when the wind picks up.