Broward County voters have determined to maintain Gregory Tony as their sheriff for one more 4 years, reaffirming his management within the county’s high regulation enforcement position after a detailed race with challenger Charles Edward Whatley.
Tony, who was appointed sheriff by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2019 and subsequently received election in 2020, campaigned on a platform emphasizing enhanced coaching applications for first responders. He highlighted collaboration with the Public Security Fee, established after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty taking pictures, as a testomony to his concentrate on public security reforms.
His opponent, Whatley, is a Marine Corps veteran with practically 30 years in regulation enforcement.
Overseeing the most important sheriff’s workplace in Florida, Tony leads 5,800 workers, together with over 2,700 licensed deputies and 700-plus fireplace rescue professionals. The Broward Sheriff’s Workplace (BSO) operates on an annual finances approaching $1 billion and offers regulation enforcement providers throughout 14 cities and unincorporated areas, representing greater than a 3rd of the county.
Tony’s appointment adopted the dismissal of former sheriff Scott Israel after criticism for his dealing with of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas Excessive Faculty taking pictures. The Florida Senate supported Israel’s elimination, paving the best way for Tony’s management.
– Commercial –
Regardless of securing reelection, Tony’s tenure has been marred by controversy. In 2022, a Florida Division of Regulation Enforcement (FDLE) investigation revealed he had misrepresented data on police functions, failing to reveal a deadly self-defense taking pictures he was concerned in at age 14. Though the FDLE concluded the statute of limitations prevented felony prices, the report known as consideration to those omissions.
Additional points emerged when it was found that Tony had falsely answered questions on police and driver’s license functions concerning previous license suspensions. His license had been suspended in Pennsylvania in 1996 for unpaid site visitors fines, but he denied any such prevalence when making use of for a Florida license in 2019, shortly after changing into sheriff.
Earlier this yr, the FDLE beneficial a six-month suspension of Tony’s regulation enforcement certification for offering false data on driver’s license functions. Nonetheless, an administrative choose beneficial a lighter penalty, suggesting a written reprimand, obligatory ethics coaching, and 18 months of probation.
All through these challenges, Sheriff Gregory Tony has stayed targeted on his achievements as sheriff. He established the BSO’s first-ever Analysis, Growth, and Coaching Middle and spearheaded new coaching initiatives for mass taking pictures responses and racial fairness and implicit bias applications. Moreover, Tony has enforced a tradition of accountability inside the division, cooperating with investigations into officer misconduct, which led to multiple fraud-related arrests.
Regardless of ongoing scrutiny, voters have chosen to increase Tony’s management, signaling confidence in his capacity to proceed main Florida’s largest sheriff’s workplace by his subsequent time period.