Turf lines are becoming blurred between the two largest law enforcement agencies in Volusia County, and the State Attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit says that's bad news for career criminals.

The Daytona Beach Police Department and Volusia County Sheriff's Office have now both committed detectives to work with the State Attorney to specifically target career criminals with a goal of getting them off the streets.

Victor Gaines, Shane Cruz and Ian Maddox are just three men local law enforcement are very familiar with.

Between the three of them, they've been in and out of the Volusia County Branch Jail around two dozen times since 2006 for everything from auto theft to violent crimes.

But an agreement signed Friday by Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood and State Attorney RJ Larizza will make going after these so-called career criminals priority number one.

“You have the two biggest agencies in the county who are exchanging information immediately. Not only that, they're able to look at paperwork and see what else needs to be done,” said Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson.

Investigator Joe Snowden and Daytona Beach PD and Detective Investigator Chris Teague of the Sheriff's Office will be working with prosecutors in hopes of building better cases against these criminals.

“We have to have cases we can prove in court. So that's where the investigation and apprehension comes in,” said State Attorney RJ Larizza.

What this task force doesn't do is address what happens when a case is made and successfully prosecuted, when it's time for sentencing.

“You got a guy who comes in and confesses to something and the prosecutors go in to the courtroom and a judge decides well, you know ... he's a fair-haired-looking guy, I'm going to cut him a break and I'm not going to sentence him to the max,” added Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood.

These teams will work only with career-criminal cases.

It's hoped this team approach will better identify for the judges the criminals who are constantly in and out of the courthouse, increasing the chances those offenders will receive a maximum sentence.

But the biggest question is how the police chief and sheriff were able to come together; the two have a history of butting heads on a variety of issues.

“[At] the end of the day it's about going after that guy that's destroying the quality of life in the city. Now, me and Ben, we're not going deep-sea fishing because maybe just one of us is gonna come back,” said Chief Chitwood.

The State Attorney's Office has assigned six prosecutors to the Career Criminal Strike Force in Daytona Beach, and two in DeLand to handle the western side of the county.