Sheriff elections are evil and should be stopped

Charlotte County sheriff elections are evil mud slinging accusatory events and should be stopped. CCSO is having a meltdown as candidates and their supporters go for each-others throats for the big win. Sheriff elections were stopped for that very reason in Miami-Dade County when the population became too acrimonious and spiteful and too big to handle.

Charlotte County should have a referendum presented to the voters to have the county commissioners appoint a Charlotte sheriff/director instead of the electoral process. Electing a sheriff who has one or two deputies is fine, but large urban counties deserve more than mud slinging for law enforcement. An appointed sheriff/director can be hired or fired by commissioners if he or she isn't measuring up -- and it eliminates election bloodbaths.

Remove politics from policing.

The Miami-Dade Police Department is the Metropolitan Sheriff’s Office for Miami-Dade County. It is the largest law enforcement agency in Florida.

Charlotte County sheriff elections are evil mud slinging accusatory events and should be stopped. CCSO is having a meltdown as candidates and their supporters go for each-others throats for the big win. Sheriff elections were stopped for that very reason in Miami-Dade County when the population became too acrimonious and spiteful and too big to handle.

Charlotte County should have a referendum presented to the voters to have the county commissioners appoint a Charlotte sheriff/director instead of the electoral process. Electing a sheriff who has one or two deputies is fine, but large urban counties deserve more than mud slinging for law enforcement. An appointed sheriff/director can be hired or fired by commissioners if he or she isn't measuring up -- and it eliminates election bloodbaths.

Remove politics from policing.

The Miami-Dade Police Department is the Metropolitan Sheriff’s Office for Miami-Dade County. It is the largest law enforcement agency in Florida.

I agree that elections generate the mudslinging we see on this forum from the respective camps. A law enforcement agency's SO1 should be appointed instead of elected to remove the politics from policing but I disagree that the county commission be the body which appoints the sheriff/director, as you put it. Unfortunately I cannot offer another elected body that should appoint the sheriff/director.

A metro P.D.sounds good, BUT then we will have 6 A holes running things :P

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Think about this. You only have mudslinging once every 4 years. With an appointed Sheriff you have politics all year long. Look at Police Departments, Punta Gorda as a a good example of politics. That is why the Sheriff is a Constitutional position not appointed. To keep other elected officials from having control over them. Look at a former investigation into a county elected official that took place. Think that would have happened if the Sheriff was appointed?