Ron DeSantis is running for his second term as governor, and he has sheriffs at his back. In a press conference (depicted above), Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey took to the podium to laud DeSantis and his policies, alongside most of the other 58 sheriffs who are endorsing DeSantis in his re-election bid. “This is what a law-and-order governor looks like!” he said. (He also called Florida a “freedom-loving state,” which made me wonder who is getting freedom and who is getting law and order.)
Getting involved in the governor’s race is about politics as well as naked self-interest – Florida is unique in that the governor has more power over county officials than in most states, with the ability to suspend sheriffs and push for a recall through the state senate. (Georgia is another state where the governor can suspend a sheriff after a determination by a “review commission” made up of other sheriffs.) In addition, sheriffs who are dissatisfied with their budget as set by the county can seek more money by appealing to the governor.
DeSantis has also done a lot to endear himself to sheriffs, particularly in the form of cash. He has already signed legislation that enhances criminal penalties for so-called retail theft and makes it easier to arrest and charge protestors. He is promising additional funding for law enforcement recruitment, including a $5,000 “hiring bonus” and a provision that will give sheriffs more control over their budgets by allowing them to shift funding priorities. The Florida sheriffs have also backed DeSantis’s war on woke. Always empathetic Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd complimented DeSantis by saying, “We’ve seen far too many leaders who want to be politically correct.”
Who better to endorse DeSantis than sheriffs like Ivey and Judd? A recent news story provided evidence that Ivey bullies and harasses certain political candidates to drop out of races. Ivey already uses his social media to promote his “constitutional sheriff” ideas, including strong distrust of the federal government and fealty to the very recent version of the 2nd Amendment adopted by the right, as well as made-for-television segments that imitate Live PD by portraying some people as “criminals” without much evidence.
Judd, DeSantis’s other fanboy, has been on a tear to get himself in front of the camera to take credit for disingenuous entrapment operations. In May, Judd finally got some criticism for his frat-boy antics at other people’s expense – on Facebook, Judd mocked a young pregnant woman with mental health challenges who called 911 from a McDonald’s and ended up arrested herself. The woman’s lawyer accused Judd of potentially tainting the jury pool with his remarks, in addition to making fun of mental illness. Even as many news publications are reducing the use of mugshots, sheriffs like Grady Judd and Wayne Ivey use their platform to mock and humiliate people – without being held accountable for facts.
As if to not be outdone by a hard-right-liner like DeSantis, Democratic President Joe Biden gave a speech in Pennsylvania this week in which he outlined his “Safer America Plan,” which includes cash welfare for law enforcement offices nationwide. I wrote previously about the COPS Hiring Program – which we already know is a failure because Biden promoted the same “100,000 cops” figure in 1994. Why the same number? Who knows! And it doesn’t matter because a) it’s completely random anyway, and b) it didn’t happen the last time.
Some people believe that Biden’s plan is helping to increase his approval rating before the midterms. I would argue that the right doesn’t care how much money Biden gives to the police – they will portray it as woefully insufficient and a political ploy to distract from other criminal system reforms.
The point cannot be emphasized enough – federal programs that give money to law enforcement agencies are a form of welfare for cops. COPS funds neither target departments in need of resources nor assess how those resources are being used or their effect. Because cash is fungible, most agencies that receive COPS funding do not donate extra money back to the country – they use it to purchase equipment or otherwise reinforce existing infrastructure. It’s true that DeSantis is trying to make law enforcement a “protected class” with unique benefits — but Biden and his White House are too.
