Posted by
Dave Kooker on Thursday, November 08, 2007 12:04:59 PM
The City of Jacksonville in Florida and Sheriff John Rutherford keep alluding to the fact that the budget cuts related to the Homestead property tax amendment for the State of Florida will a cause reductions in Law Enforcement. Sheriff John Rutherford shamelessly seems to think that if he implies a reduction of law enforcement in the city that the public will be scared into voting against the Homestead property tax amendment.
I for one welcome the reduction of Law Enforcement in Duval County. I have called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) in the Riverside area for:
· Graffiti, no response.
· Drug activity, showed up once when I mentioned I found Oxicodin.
· Mentioned drug activity and prostitution to patrolling JSO cars, no response.
· Reported a van in front of my house being used as a drug dealer warehouse, even confronted the drug dealer. Gave up waiting for the JSO. The neighbors said the JSO showed up 90 minutes later.
Where are the JSO? Squad car 1321 is too busy perusing moving violations on King Street. Never mind the crack baggies that litter the side walks on Post street. Several of the JSO are smoking cigars at a local cigar shop (Tobacco Cove West). I see more JSO every morning pulling over speeders on Atlantic Blvd in the St Nicholas area, than I ever have seen patrolling in the Riverside neighborhood.
I seriously question the validity of these moving violations. Two summers ago an off-duty sheriff (Sgt. Anderson, Badge 7870) on a Sunday afternoon pulled me over for supposedly driving through a stop sign. I know for a fact that the City of Jacksonville has quotas because several of the JSO officers (Sgt. Schumacher and Lt. T.C. Davis) who hang out at Tobacco Cove West laughed at me when I showed them the ticket. They were very aware this off-duty officer who was working on his own time to catch up on moving violation tickets even if it is under false pretense(s).
The criminal element understands this and is not afraid of committing crime. They understand that the JSO will not pursue incidents unless it is a high profile case to symbolically show that the JSO is fighting crime. Fighting crime does not generate revenue and could be dangerous. That is why Jacksonville’s crime statistics are significantly going up.
It is not bad enough that the law abiding citizens should be afraid of the bad elements in this community but also the Law Enforcement picking off the law abiding citizen(s) on slight moving violations for revenue generating purposes. Sherriff John Rutherford, if that is your purpose then good riddance JSO.
Homestead property tax amendment for the State of Florida
http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/HouseNews/preview.aspx?PressReleaseId=86
City Of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office
http://www.coj.net/Departments/Sheriffs+Office/Default.htm
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