SHERIFFS’ DEPUTIES IN TWO SOUTH FLORIDA counties have lost self control and respect of the people.
Deputies in Dade (Miami) and Broward (Fort Lauderdale) have been shown, repeatedly, beating people sans cause; using unnecessary force to subdue people who are not resisting.
Who am I to complain? I am a political conservative, a law-and-order person. One son is a policemen with a dozen years on a force elsewhere in the state and never accused of brutality. I consider myself law abiding, but I’ve seen too many cops abuse the badge.
Lately in the two south Florida counties sheriffs’ deputies have been caught on camera abusing both their badge and the people they are subduing.
The sheriffs’ reaction always is “You (the non-law enforcement officers or LEOs) don’t see everything.”
Yet, when the incident gets to court, and before judges who CAN “see everything,” the case against the victim — usually a trumped up charge that the victim touched the cop (assaulted the deputy) — all charges are dismissed.
While not exclusively limited to sheriffs' departments, the majority of the “excessive force” complaints are against deputies.
- Are municipal cops better trained? Are they psychologically better equipped to do their job? If so, why don’t sheriffs copy the cities’ hiring practices? This is a blog; I’m no longer a reporter with the authority of a newspaper (or even tv station) to check budgets and salaries or even pre-employment practices.
I’ve been around awhile.
At one point I was a reporter covering law enforcement. I knew sheriffs on an almost first name basis. In my day their main function was as jailers and to police unincorporated areas. Now, at least in south Florida, the sheriffs’ departments are assuming police duties in incorporated areas.
- In Dade County, the Miami-Dade Police are, in truth, sheriff’s deputies under a sous un faux nom — “false name” sounds better in French. The county also has a sheriff’s department — so much for the highly touted, cost-reducing, efficiency-enhancing consolidation of a county-wide police operation. Many local municipalities still maintain their own police departments, and the taxpayer enjoys ever higher taxes.
In Broward County, the elected sheriff, Scott Israel, was removed by the new governor, Ron DeSantis, for Israel’s department’s inaction during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that caused the deaths of 17 students and faculty.
- In Israel’s defense, it should be noted there were multiple issues, in addition to an experienced deputy’s failure to act as expected.
DeSantis appointed a former police sergeant, Gregory Tony, as the county’s top LEO. Despite Tony’s impressive academic credentials (see http://tinyurl.com/y25o9w45) his official biography fails to show any command positions, e.g., chief or assistant/deputy chief of a major police department.
The Sheriff’s Office (BSO) has 5,400 employees and a US$730 million budget. Compare that to the police department where Tony was a sergeant: 320 employees and an annual budget of US$67-plus million (http://tinyurl.com/y39mgneq). The sheriff nee’ sergeant was not part of the department’s command staff (http://tinyurl.com/yxj6p6m3) but he apparently was a friend of the new governor.
Since becoming sheriff, Tony’s department has had multiple complaints of excessive force brought against deputies.
- In Tony’s defense, he “inherited” deputies from Scott Israel’s force or from Al Lamberti’s department. Israel was elected sheriff in 2012 and re-elected in 2016. Lamberti was appointed sheriff by then-Gov. Charlie Crist after Sheriff Ken Jenne was indicted on federal corruption charges in 2007. Lamberti was elected sheriff in 2008 (http://tinyurl.com/y6trf4dj).
In once instance, Tony was invited to explain his deputies’ actions before a municipal board. Captured for tv cameras, the new sheriff proved himself belligerent and disrespectful of elected authority. One of the elected officials told Tony that his (the sheriff’s) bellicose attitude is reflected in his deputies’ actions.
Despite improvements in psychological testing, too many sworn officers pin on a badge and think they are old west cowboy sheriffs — a law unto themselves that cannot, dare not, be questioned.
Such LEOs do nothing to enhance respect for the badge; indeed, they generate disrespect, not only from the people they abuse, but from the public who see the abuse captured on the ubiquitous cell phone cameras and now, even the officer’s body camera, a device allegedly to reduce, if not prevent, unwarranted officer attacks.
- In once instance, a deputy took off his camera and placed it on a shelf. He then beat a man handcuffed to a hospital bed while the camera recorded it all. He also threatened his victim that he would “do it again.” His actions made the 5, 6, and 11 o’clock local news — and may have been picked up for the national reports; great promotion for south Florida.
The south Florida LEOs apparently are not racists; they seem to mistreat blacks and whites equally. They also are not sexists; they abuse females as often as males.
It’s all caught on camera.
It is time that the top cops — chiefs of police and sheriffs — start aggressively weeding out LEOs who abuse the badge and the people they swore to protect. If the top cops cannot or will not do the job, the state government needs to step in and do the job, but please, no more “sergeants with an attitude” to top cop positions.
We never will be rid of all bad badge bearers, but we should expect a reduction in their ranks.
As the local councilman put it, Broward deputies reflect the attitude of their boss.
If Tony can’t change his attitude, DeSantis needs to find a replacement for his friend. Broward County residents should not have to wait until the next election to get a sensible sheriff who demands proper procedure from his deputies.
Meanwhile, DeSantis does himself no political good while Tony wears the badge.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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