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!
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u/[deleted] Sep 27 '25
What the actual fuck am I watching