“Last summer, the Sheriff’s Office announced plans to begin keeping tabs on people who have been repeatedly committed to psychiatric hospitals.”
People are going to die because of that.
There is a close friend of mine who, if unlucky enough to live in that hellhole, would have her life made miserable by this. She’s a nurse who’s never committed a crime in her life. She’s also bipolar, suicidal, deals with major depression, and has a less-than-supportive family, so she’s been committed a few times. Being harassed by hyperzealous cops who think they’re fighting terrorists is exactly the sort of thing that could push her over the edge.
I think—and hope—that this is what does them in. It should never have gotten to this point, but they can wave around terms like “reduced crime” and as long as it’s just the bad guys who are being targeted, no one cares.
But I suspect there will be a point soon enough where the sheriff here will find himself answering questions about why his department drove to suicide a mentally ill person with no criminal record, and I hope to god the resulting consequences put an end to this un-American madness, here and everywhere else.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my father has been practicing civil rights law in central Florida for several decades now, and he's brought multiple lawsuits against police departments there which are very similar to the situation you're describing. In one instance, a young mother with anorexia and mental health issues died after a 300-pound corrections officer sat on her to 'calm her down' until she asphyxiated in her jail cell with multiple broken ribs. This was all recorded on video. She'd been arrested for something along the lines of making a disturbance related to her psychological problems.
There have never been any systemic changes implemented as a result of these lawsuits. If the case goes 'well', the department will pay restitution to surviving family members, but damages for police negligence are tightly capped in Florida, and the department will frequently attribute full blame to the individual officer in question rather than give the impression of general negligence or training problems, which are some of the very narrow means of avoiding the damages cap and making them actually take notice. My impression is that most departments in central Florida treat these cases as the cost of doing business, which is extremely depressing and also indicative of how the cops down there actually feel and act, unfortunately.
A similar situation occurred in Rochester NY in March. Police called on a guy who was acting out, possibly due to having ingested PCP earlier. He was obeying the officers commands and had been handcuffed, but was acting erratically by spitting at them. So they put a "spit hood" over his head, then held him to the ground until he passed out and his heart stopped. Nothing about how the police responded is humane.
It's important to note that, in America, any police enforcement comes with a chance of death or injury. When we make little laws (jaywalking or whatnot), we should be careful to keep this in mind.
I'm just amazed that you can declare this and nobody makes any comment. How is this not a completely outragious statement? What type of society can tolorate the police being a net risk to the people they are ostensibly there to protect.
Ok, yes I know I'm completely ignorant of how the US works. The thing that scares me that your society is infecious, and I never want to see this in my part of the world.
I don't think you realize how quickly and universally the people of Pasco county (or really, a majority of most US counties) will praise the sheriff for protecting good people from methheads, criminals, and white trash. I can almost hear the responses: "If they didn't want to get killed, they should have gotten a job, taken their meds, and respected the police."
The general population can be extremely cruel and heartless if the consequences are hidden from them. And they specifically reward people that hide the costs and consequences of these actions.
>I don't think you realize how quickly and universally the people of Pasco county will praise the sheriff for protecting good people from methheads, criminals, and white trash.
Pasco's demographic is heavily retiree and red voting - especially on the west side, where Nocco is based. I can affirm that is how our voting blocs think.
Of note, we're also one of the whitest counties in America.
I'm a 30y Pasco resident and (historically) a Nocco apologist.
I'm also consistently critical of police mistreatment of citizens and have often exampled Nocco as an example of a better-sherrif-than-most. You can imagine my feelings as I'm sorting thru this TBT article.
I have 2 things to bring up. First is that Nocco replaced Bob White, who unexpectedly retired mid-term. White was a awful sheriff, obsessed with budgets. He fired older experienced officers (& was sued), replacing them with fresh academy graduates. The result was terrible deputy judgment for complex situations & officers shaking with rage during totally routine traffic stops. I suspect White was forced out of office. At least I hope that's how it happened.
Under Nocco's tenure all of that got better. In the first 6 months he twice returned sizable funds to the county. There were a handful of actions he took that I held up as an example of what a good sheriff might look like (in contrast to Grady Judd, in nearby Polk county).
I strongly believe the path to better police lies thru better police chiefs. Nocco's tenure likely helped me form that opinion. He made bad choices as well but my overall assessment was positive.
-- Have to run out. I'll be back to append my 2nd point.
My 2nd point is that Nocco must have worked at hiding this predictive policing program from us. I've never heard a word about it. The PCSO is a mid sized police dept & it's common for locals to know any number of deputies and staff there. I worked in law for 2 years right by the PSCO West Op Ctr and I never caught wind of the program. There is one county commissioner I trust and I'm more than a little curious if that person knew.
To my point: Nocco did not proactively disclose this to the community. Beyond that, it's likely he fought to conceal it's existence. Purposefully hiding this ethically questionable program (for years) is beyond unacceptable; it's a betrayal. And the program itself is a soft model of what's wrong with American policing. Segmenting the population into friends and enemies is a profoundly dark and dangerous mindset to adopt.
In no way is this okay for us.
Which ultimately leaves me with a quandary. If Nocco every runs up against a R challenger, there's a strong chance that his opponent will be groomed & wholly owned by shady local political/business interests. I've seen a previous sheriff act as a defacto arm of local businesses. I even once had a client who had influence in that sheriff's dept. I'm not aware of any corrupt behavior but the obviousness of the influence was unsettling.
More recently, there has been an overt attempt to replace an ethical elected official with a groomed, inexperienced lackey. It was an unsuccessful attempt, thankfully, but it shows that that both the machinery and desire are in place.
I could wind up with a choice to vote for Nocco or the local chamber's sock puppet. At the moment, I'm not clear what I'd do.
Given the choices you presented I think Nocco would still be the best option. That doesn't make him a good option.
If what you say about community involvement and general transparency is true then maybe Nocco is still redeemable. With your involvement at the local level it sounds like some additional oversight is the best solution.
Since Nocco has proven he can't be trusted to run the department with the current amount of oversight I think additional community oversight of all police spending is a reasonable solution.
This solves the problem regardless of who happens to be Sheriff, even if that does turn out to be a local business puppet.
People are going to die because of that.
There is a close friend of mine who, if unlucky enough to live in that hellhole, would have her life made miserable by this. She’s a nurse who’s never committed a crime in her life. She’s also bipolar, suicidal, deals with major depression, and has a less-than-supportive family, so she’s been committed a few times. Being harassed by hyperzealous cops who think they’re fighting terrorists is exactly the sort of thing that could push her over the edge.
I think—and hope—that this is what does them in. It should never have gotten to this point, but they can wave around terms like “reduced crime” and as long as it’s just the bad guys who are being targeted, no one cares.
But I suspect there will be a point soon enough where the sheriff here will find himself answering questions about why his department drove to suicide a mentally ill person with no criminal record, and I hope to god the resulting consequences put an end to this un-American madness, here and everywhere else.