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06-16-2020, 02:01 AM
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‘I fired the bad cops.’ Sheriff Gregory Tony showcases deputy terminations in first campaign ad
By Skyler Swisher
South Florida Sun Sentinel | Jun 15, 2020 | 6:07 PM competition
Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony has built his reputation as a reformer who isn’t afraid to take on bad cops in his own department.
Now, he’s showcasing his get-tough stance on police brutality in his first campaign ad, which includes footage of his own deputies slamming a teenager’s head to the ground and punching a handcuffed inmate.
The ad highlights how Tony — Broward County’s first black sheriff — acted decisively to fire deputies caught on camera using excessive force. It comes as protesters heap criticism on a criminal justice system that has allowed police officers to commit brutal acts with impunity.
“I took on police brutality," Tony says in the 30-second ad. "I fired the bad cops. De-escalation training. Equal justice. Police brutality is unacceptable. Ending it starts with who is in charge. It starts with me.”
Those firings also have heightened tensions between Tony and the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association, which represents about 1,400 deputies. The union has come out hard against Tony and endorsed one of his opponents, Al Pollock, a retired BSO colonel.
Jeff Bell, union president, says Tony has unfairly treated deputies and violated their due-process rights.
“You have to honor procedural due process and their rights,” he said. "You can’t circumvent the process to get the political result you desire.”
“We just wish he would stop celebrating terminating deputies,” Bell added.
Tony’s campaign is spending six figures on the ads, which will air on local television stations ahead of the Aug. 18 Democratic primary.
Tony fired deputies, overhauled review panel
Tony has fired at least five deputies since Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him sheriff in January 2019.
Early in his tenure in April 2019, Tony faced outrage over the rough arrest of a teenager in Tamarac that was captured by multiple bystanders on camera. The footage, which is included in Tony’s campaign ad, showed Deputy Christopher Krickovich slamming Delucca Rolle’s head against the pavement.
In December of that year, the 11-member Professional Standards Committee recommended that Krickovich be exonerated, but Tony overruled the panel and fired the deputy.
Bell said that was the first time in the history of the Broward Sheriff’s Office that a deputy was fired after the Professional Standards Committee voted to clear the officer.
Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association, listens as Sheriff Gregory Tony addresses the media on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2019. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
In July, Tony fired Deputy Kevin Fanti, who was captured on a surveillance camera repeatedly punching a handcuffed inmate.
Then he fired Deputy Jorge Sobrino in October. Sobrino was caught on camera punching a man who had been handcuffed to a hospital bed.
Union leader Bell’s frustrations with Tony date back to at least May 2019, when he vowed in a text message to Tony supporter Hunter Pollack that he would “make sure Greg never makes it past the primary.”
One change that has upset Bell involves how internal affairs investigations are conducted. Under previous sheriffs, those investigations were put on hold until a deputy’s criminal charges were resolved.
Now, an internal affairs investigation runs alongside a criminal investigation. Bell said that puts deputies’ jobs in jeopardy if they decline to answer questions that could later be used against them in court.
Tony overhauled the 11-member Professional Standards Committee, which makes nonbinding recommendations on deputy discipline. He replaced every member except Bell and urged the four citizen representatives to take a more active role against police misconduct.
Tony touts other reforms
As a first-time candidate, Tony has faced scrutiny over not disclosing on a 2005 application with the Coral Springs Police Department that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man when he was a 14-year-old living in Philadelphia’s Badlands neighborhood.
Tony, 41, was not found guilty in the 1993 shooting, and he says it was self-defense.
Tony has cited his background as making him who he is today. He uses the Badlands as a backdrop in the ad, noting that he “beat the streets" and put himself through college.
He’s urged voters to focus on his achievements as sheriff, such as firing bad deputies, rather than dwell on decades-old issues dug up by his opponents.
Tony has embraced reforms being pushed by Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
‘I fired the bad cops.’ Sheriff Gregory Tony showcases deputy terminations in first campaign ad
By Skyler Swisher
South Florida Sun Sentinel | Jun 15, 2020 | 6:07 PM competition
Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony has built his reputation as a reformer who isn’t afraid to take on bad cops in his own department.
Now, he’s showcasing his get-tough stance on police brutality in his first campaign ad, which includes footage of his own deputies slamming a teenager’s head to the ground and punching a handcuffed inmate.
The ad highlights how Tony — Broward County’s first black sheriff — acted decisively to fire deputies caught on camera using excessive force. It comes as protesters heap criticism on a criminal justice system that has allowed police officers to commit brutal acts with impunity.
“I took on police brutality," Tony says in the 30-second ad. "I fired the bad cops. De-escalation training. Equal justice. Police brutality is unacceptable. Ending it starts with who is in charge. It starts with me.”
Those firings also have heightened tensions between Tony and the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association, which represents about 1,400 deputies. The union has come out hard against Tony and endorsed one of his opponents, Al Pollock, a retired BSO colonel.
Jeff Bell, union president, says Tony has unfairly treated deputies and violated their due-process rights.
“You have to honor procedural due process and their rights,” he said. "You can’t circumvent the process to get the political result you desire.”
“We just wish he would stop celebrating terminating deputies,” Bell added.
Tony’s campaign is spending six figures on the ads, which will air on local television stations ahead of the Aug. 18 Democratic primary.
Tony fired deputies, overhauled review panel
Tony has fired at least five deputies since Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed him sheriff in January 2019.
Early in his tenure in April 2019, Tony faced outrage over the rough arrest of a teenager in Tamarac that was captured by multiple bystanders on camera. The footage, which is included in Tony’s campaign ad, showed Deputy Christopher Krickovich slamming Delucca Rolle’s head against the pavement.
In December of that year, the 11-member Professional Standards Committee recommended that Krickovich be exonerated, but Tony overruled the panel and fired the deputy.
Bell said that was the first time in the history of the Broward Sheriff’s Office that a deputy was fired after the Professional Standards Committee voted to clear the officer.
Jeff Bell, president of the Broward Sheriff's Office Deputies Association, listens as Sheriff Gregory Tony addresses the media on Wednesday Dec. 11, 2019. (Mike Stocker / South Florida Sun Sentinel)
In July, Tony fired Deputy Kevin Fanti, who was captured on a surveillance camera repeatedly punching a handcuffed inmate.
Then he fired Deputy Jorge Sobrino in October. Sobrino was caught on camera punching a man who had been handcuffed to a hospital bed.
Union leader Bell’s frustrations with Tony date back to at least May 2019, when he vowed in a text message to Tony supporter Hunter Pollack that he would “make sure Greg never makes it past the primary.”
One change that has upset Bell involves how internal affairs investigations are conducted. Under previous sheriffs, those investigations were put on hold until a deputy’s criminal charges were resolved.
Now, an internal affairs investigation runs alongside a criminal investigation. Bell said that puts deputies’ jobs in jeopardy if they decline to answer questions that could later be used against them in court.
Tony overhauled the 11-member Professional Standards Committee, which makes nonbinding recommendations on deputy discipline. He replaced every member except Bell and urged the four citizen representatives to take a more active role against police misconduct.
Tony touts other reforms
As a first-time candidate, Tony has faced scrutiny over not disclosing on a 2005 application with the Coral Springs Police Department that he shot and killed an 18-year-old man when he was a 14-year-old living in Philadelphia’s Badlands neighborhood.
Tony, 41, was not found guilty in the 1993 shooting, and he says it was self-defense.
Tony has cited his background as making him who he is today. He uses the Badlands as a backdrop in the ad, noting that he “beat the streets" and put himself through college.
He’s urged voters to focus on his achievements as sheriff, such as firing bad deputies, rather than dwell on decades-old issues dug up by his opponents.
Tony has embraced reforms being pushed by Black Lives Matter demonstrators.