Pasco Sheriff’s Office letter targets residents for ‘increased accountability’

[ZiprHead]

Critics of the agency’s intelligence programs called the letter ‘patronizing’ and ‘offensive,’ and raised continued concerns about civil rights

It starts like an offer of admission from a prestigious university.

“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected…” it says.

But the four-page letter from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office goes on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced police scrutiny under the agency’s controversial intelligence program.

“You may wonder why you were enrolled in this program,” the letter continues. “You were selected as a result of an evaluation of your recent criminal behavior using an unbiased, evidence-based risk assessment designed to identify prolific offenders in our community. As a result of this designation, we will go to great efforts to encourage change in your life through enhanced support and increased accountability.”

Last year, a Tampa Bay Times investigation revealed that the Sheriff’s Office creates lists of people it considers likely to break the law based on criminal histories, social networks and other unspecified intelligence. The agency sends deputies to their homes repeatedly, often without a search warrant or probable cause for an arrest.

Targets and their relatives, including four who are now suing the Sheriff’s Office in federal court, described the tactics as harassment and a violation of their constitutional rights. National policing experts drew comparisons to child abuse and surveillance that could be expected under an authoritarian regime.

The sheriff also has a program to monitor school children and label those with poor grades, attendance, and history of abuse as "future criminals".

 

[Loren Pechtel]

And the Sheriff hasn't already been removed???

 

[LoAmmo]

I'd love to see a regular ol' citizen of Pasco County send all the Sheriff's Office deputies a letter reading:

“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected."

And then go on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced public scrutiny under the citizenry's "intelligence program," such as it were.

“You may wonder why you were enrolled in this program,” the letter would continue. “You were selected as a result of an evaluation of recent and ongoing criminal behavior exhibited by out-of-control police officers nationwide. This is an unbiased, evidence-based risk assessment designed to identify prolific offenders in our community. As a result of this designation, we will go to great efforts to encourage change in your life through enhanced support and increased accountability.”

And I'd see if I couldn't ignite a groundswell of public support, resulting in citizens very visibly filming cop's every move in Pasco County--sitting in their cars, eating their fucking donuts, and certainly every time they were interacting with the public. They might get the message if they couldn't tie their shoes without 10 or 12 phones being pointed at them.

The good ones would have nothing to worry about

...right?

 

[ZiprHead]

Pasco’s sheriff created a futuristic program to stop crime before it happens.
It monitors and harasses families across the county.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco took office in 2011 with a bold plan: to create a cutting-edge intelligence program that could stop crime before it happened.

What he actually built was a system to continuously monitor and harass Pasco County residents, a Tampa Bay Times investigation has found.

First the Sheriff’s Office generates lists of people it considers likely to break the law, based on arrest histories, unspecified intelligence and arbitrary decisions by police analysts.

Then it sends deputies to find and interrogate anyone whose name appears, often without probable cause, a search warrant or evidence of a specific crime.

They swarm homes in the middle of the night, waking families and embarrassing people in front of their neighbors. They write tickets for missing mailbox numbers and overgrown grass, saddling residents with court dates and fines. They come again and again, making arrests for any reason they can.

Criminal justice experts said they were stunned by the agency’s practices. They compared the tactics to child abuse, mafia harassment and surveillance that could be expected under an authoritarian regime.

“Morally repugnant,” said Matthew Barge, an expert in police practices and civil rights who oversaw court-ordered agreements to address police misconduct in Cleveland and Baltimore.

“One of the worst manifestations of the intersection of junk science and bad policing — and an absolute absence of common sense and humanity — that I have seen in my career," said David Kennedy, a renowned criminologist at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, whose research on crime prevention is referenced in Pasco’s policies.

 

[Gospel]

If that's true, someone needs to learn what crime prevention & community outreach actually looks like.

 

[Shadowy Man]

If that's true, someone needs to learn what crime prevention & community outreach actually looks like.

Precogs?

 

[Gospel]

If that's true, someone needs to learn what crime prevention & community outreach actually looks like.

Precogs?

Clearly, that's what this Sheriff thinks. He doesn't seem to think community fundraisers and strategically placed law enforcement personal/systems are working well enough. Rather than fine-tune or increase existing efforts it's "let's go full Minority Report on that ass!".

 

[Rhea]

I'd love to see a regular ol' citizen of Pasco County send all the Sheriff's Office deputies a letter reading:

“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected."

And then go on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced public scrutiny under the citizenry's "intelligence program," such as it were.
[…]

And I'd see if I couldn't ignite a groundswell of public support, resulting in citizens very visibly filming cop's every move in Pasco County--sitting in their cars, eating their fucking donuts, and certainly every time they were interacting with the public. They might get the message if they couldn't tie their shoes without 10 or 12 phones being pointed at them.

The good ones would have nothing to worry about

...right?

Suuport this completely for that office.

 

[Elixir]

I'd love to see a regular ol' citizen of Pasco County send all the Sheriff's Office deputies a letter reading:

“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected."

And then go on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced public scrutiny under the citizenry's "intelligence program," such as it were.
[…]

And I'd see if I couldn't ignite a groundswell of public support, resulting in citizens very visibly filming cop's every move in Pasco County--sitting in their cars, eating their fucking donuts, and certainly every time they were interacting with the public. They might get the message if they couldn't tie their shoes without 10 or 12 phones being pointed at them.

The good ones would have nothing to worry about

...right?

Suuport this completely for that office.

+1
My brother has a house in Englewood, just south of Tampa. Wondering if it’s in this jurisdiction…

ETA: nope. Pasco Cty is north of the Bay.
Too bad - he’s just enough of a troublemaker to write a letter like that.

 

[laughing dog]

There must not be much crime or things to do in Pasco county if deputies can sit outside someone's house for hours trying to catch a teenager smoking a cigarette or measuring the height of the lawn grass.

 

[Gospel]

There must not be much crime or things to do in Pasco county if deputies can sit outside someone's house for hours trying to catch a teenager smoking a cigarette or measuring the height of the lawn grass.

Well, Tampa is not in Pasco County so he has that going for him.

 

[Gospel]

I like Polk County, Sheriff Grady Judd more than my own Sherrif John W. Mina (queue the John Cena theme) and way more than Polk County's shit sherrif.

 

[steve_bank]

Obviously abuse of power.

That being said, if yiu eliminate fear of police crime dvances. I saw it whne I stared out in rough neighborhoods in Hartford in the erly 70s.

Here in Seattle the progressive city council has pretty much hamstrung police. Many resignatioms. Police phusycal rersponses are now very constrained.

The result, increasing violence and blatant open gun battles.

I live in what was once a pretty good neighborhood. My building was hit in a drive by shooting last year narrowly mssing a resident.

Over the weekend I called 911 after hearing about 30 shots near my building.

Criminals do risk reward analysis.

Recently a non profit bailed out someone in jail for murder. He got out and murdered someone.

Fear works, it will be a matter of how bad it gets before people rebel.

 

[Emily Lake]

Over the past year and a half, it really seems like the Pacific Northwet has lost its collective mind.

 

[steve_bank]

Over the past year and a half, it really seems like the Pacific Northwet has lost its collective mind.

All hyperbole aside, yes.

Yesterday a shooting south of Seattle. Bystanders reported a man in black running away. Police arrived quickly but under the new state laws they did not have probable cause to use dogs to try and track the person.

 

[Emily Lake]

Over the past year and a half, it really seems like the Pacific Northwet has lost its collective mind.

All hyperbole aside, yes.

Yesterday a shooting south of Seattle. Bystanders reported a man in black running away. Police arrived quickly but under the new state laws they did not have probable cause to use dogs to try and track the person.

I've got friends near Seattle and Portland. I moved away three years ago. The things they say about the overall feel of the place is a bit disturbing. They're all pretty seriously liberal, but my besties won't go downtown any more, not unless they've got no other choice. And I've had several friends who just up and left WA and OR last year because of the strange shifts. My uncle lived just outside Portland, and he passed up a major promotion and moved back to Arkansas as a black man, because the "ACAB" crowd was just out of hand.

 

[repoman]

If this were rewritten as to be happening in the UK no one here would bat an eye.