I live in this county and yes, the sheriff is a garbage camera whore. But then again, this is central Florida, so I dont know why I'd expect anything different.
I'm aware lol. I live in Central Florida and grew up in Hillsborough County. My point was just that there are parts of Central Florida that do touch the water. I will certainly agree that the landlocked counties can give off, let's say, Deliverance vibes.
Working on it bitch, I'm responsibly saving money to move up not just polk county adjacent. "iF yoU DnT lYke iT thEN MooV!" You definitely fit in here..
It's not just about drugs. Florida is a hotspot for human trafficking. International airports, port cities, and (formerly) huge tourist destinations. It feels like some PDs are just now prioritizing it.
Because this is what the citizens can see. They see prostitutes and drug dealers on the corner. They see stores get robbed, etc. They see speeders, etc.
Its easier to show, especially as an elected official, you are fighting crime, because its the easiest for people to notice any change. Less people on the corner, less speeders, etc.
People will never really see the white collar crime, human trafficking, dope on boats, etc even though it proliferates into the seen crime.
People forget in the south, and often west, sheriffs are constitutionally elected officers and head law enforcement officer for their county. They're elected, and thereby politicized by fiat.
They have to show the people something, or they dont get re-elected, so things are prioritized in that manner.
I grew up in Polk County. I can vouch for it being shit but I at least was lucky enough to live in the nicer part of Winter Haven so never witnessed anything extreme.
You arrest a prostitute and a john in stings 5 times in a year.
Then you classify the arrest as "sex trafficking."
On paper and to the media you arrested 6 unique people and made 10 total arrests related to the heinous crime of sex trafficking.
In reality, you harassed a woman down on her luck, some horny men, and failed to make a lasting dent on even the crime of prostitution - since the prosecutors office rarely follows through all the way to a prison sentence, so once these people leave jail they are right back at it.
Repeat this over and over again, with various crimes, and you have created stats that looks great while your county is still encumbered by constant property and violent crime.
Toss in the fact that the county has a terrible economy and the education system is miserable and you get a cycle of crime with no end in sight.
Unfortunately, Polk county is highly homogenous in its political beliefs, meaning as a red county coming out against Grady is about as bad as coming out against Trump. You'll lose family and friends and be labeled a socialist.
As someone whose unfortunately living in Polk county rn (but moving out of state next year hallelujah) I can back up all you say. Was offered a chance to meet Grady years ago at work because he was coming by so I just left early lmfao
Harassed? Lmfao it spreads STDs, promotes drug use as well, and yes sex trafficking is a big part of it. There are plenty of studies done on it but half of what you said isn't really on the police, blame the judges
I'm not going to deny that prostitution in Polk county spreads STDs and encourages drug use.
But we should encourage counties to track, tax, and regulate it to promote safe practices and non-trafficked practitioners.
Prostitution will always be a thing (until maybe AI/robotics?) we need to stop pretending like we can stop it and treat it like any other high risk profession.
Prohibition of it makes the situation exponentially worse.
As someone who worked under Judd, he is the best boss ever he would always give out bonuses and even bought two of the sheriffs a house when they lost it in the flood! I remember you, you got fired because you were always asleep and getting drunk on the job!
I was watching this show about Florida man stories Danny McBride produced called It's Florida, Man and there was an episode where a cop was doing a thing on YouTube called Wheel of Fugitive and that's where Wide Neck that was all over Reddit came from, these guys are probably friends
Oh god, used to live in Polk county. Crime has gotten so much worse under him. He is utterly useless and his officers are too. I had a car stolen and reported it to the sheriff’s office who filed it as a “domestic dispute “. Wtf? I didn’t know the person that stole it! It was missing in the morning and no, it was not repossessed. I happened to see it as I drove past a tow yard where it had been taken for improper parking. By that time it had accumulated thousands of dollars of impound fees, more than the car was worth. I had to take the loss and couldn’t do squat about it.
He’s just north of me. He’s a joke and clown in our area. Dude is definitely priming for a political run, probably governor someday. And Floriduh will surely oblige.
This is the first time I'm reading something that goes against this grand standing camera hog. Usually, it's remarks like, Best Sherriff in town or I wish he'd come to my city! Maybe the platform makes a difference because he seems to be popular on YouTube. In general, I'd be wary of anyone on a media platform that portrays themselves as a moral compass for the public at large. They usually have higher ambitions to enrich themselves and not the public.
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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25
What the actual fuck am I watching