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Commissioners Propose Spending Trust Fund Money On School Resource Officers
March 2, 2018
The Escambia County Commission wants to see money seized from criminals used to help fund school resource officers.
The commission voted 4-1 Thursday night to send a letter to Gov. Rick Scott calling for a change in how Law Enforcement Trust Fund (LETF) money is spent, setting aside the first 50 percent to fund SRO’s. Commissioner Doug Underhill cast the lone vote against sending the letter.
Florida law already allows, but does not require, LETF money to be spent for school resource officers. The 50 percent funding would become mandatory if the state were to support the plan proposed by the Escambia County Commission.
“In light of the recent school shooting in Parkland, Florida and the increase in school violence across the nation, it is imperative that we take swift action to protect our children and preserve the safety of the public-school system. On behalf of the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners, I am writing to respectfully request your support for legislation requiring no less than 50% of all local expenditures of annual proceeds from Law Enforcement Trust Funds….be used specifically to fund school resource officer programs to provide sworn officers or professional security,” stated the letter, which will be signed by Jeff Bergosh as commission chairman.
“Under your current school safety initiative, which we strongly support, the proposed funding would not adequately fund even one law enforcement officer per school in the Escambia County School District. This measure would provide an additional source of dedicated funding for school resource officers through the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act, which will help achieve the goal of increasing the presence of sworn officers or trained security officers on school campuses to safeguard students and educators,” the letter states.
In addition to the governor, the letter will also be sent to Senators Doug Broxson and George B. Gainer, and Representatives Clay Ingram, Mel Ponder, Frank White and Jayer Williamson.
LETF money comes from criminal seizures and is to be used to prevent crime.
Comments
18 Responses to “Commissioners Propose Spending Trust Fund Money On School Resource Officers”
No better idea yet. This is a much better idea than arming teachers. There are a lot of desent folks who are teachers. Some are not.
I am a former Deputy in Tennessee well versed on seizures. If someone wants caught in possession of a large amount of any Narcotic large enough to be a felony and a large amount of cash the cash was seized. The proof is in the amount of Narcotics possessed. Cops can tell if the amount of narcotic is for personal use or distribution. In possession of 20 grams of cocaine and in possession of $10,000 cash? The money was seized. Its not hard to prove. Good thing some of you do not work in law enforcement as you’d be fired for incompetence.
Compression Issue. Morgan has been in Office since 2008. If he clearly doesn’t have enough sense to have already addressed this, he isn’t. It’s just a crutch when he feels he needs attention. Retention. Has anyone ever thought that maybe people just have no desire to work for Morgan because of his “lack of knowing what he’s doing”? New recruits coming out of the academy start there because they keep so many openings due to the above to help support themselves/family until they get their first offer from another agency and run out, not walk. Even with the School Board paying half of the SRO’s salary as they have for several past years, Morgan decides to prove one of his “interesting points” last year by pulling some of the SRO’s out of the schools because he doesn’t have enough officers on the road to run calls. Now he needs them back in school. People, he has no idea what he’s doing but you keep voting him back into Office. One of his most vocal points prior to being elected in 2008 was just how top heavy the admin’ was there at the Office and how the “Good Ole Boy” system was and always has been normal. Well, if he could provide the names, positions and really important the salaries of the people he’s brought on since being elected in 2008, I think one would find that nothing has changed, just the players. Also take a look at the pay raises since first being elected of his supporters within the Office and see if he’s changed anything. The first person you can look at that he brought with him is David Craig. That should give anyone a good start and then look at all the others since 2008 and see if he may have had any extra money to deal with all of the above. Folks, you can’t even get an escort to your final resting place w/o having to pay for it under this man. He’s a disgrace to the badge and the community. But he brought all that experience with him. It took me a year or two to really see he had no idea what he was doing and hopefully you have too. I know the BOCC is tired of his excuses, rants and attention seeking methods. I feel sorry for all the good employees that still work there and I really feel sorry for the families in Esc’ Co’ that have to worry about whether or not their kids are safe at school while Morgan rides around and looks at himself on billboards. Good luck to all of you and hopefully at some point the Governor will step in and act on the issues there. You all take care and be careful.
I do not like taking citizen’s property to support a program to make our schools safer. It creates incentives to make more things criminal and expose greater amounts of Citizen’s assets to forfeiture. The Drug war has failed, and the forfeiture laws have really invaded citizen’s fifth amendment protections of property rights. However, as a slush fund exists now, any proposal which eliminates part of that gets my support.
School safety should be funded from sales tax dollars. I think there are some capital projects in addition to arming schools. The armed LEOs failed two weeks ago, but how are doors and windows secured? What video security systems are installed in Florida Schools? Why are visitors or students not screened on entry at least 100 feet from the front door. If folks can just walk in on any door, and there is no perimeter check points which do not necessarily need to be armed, then it sounds like people are wanting to throw money into something which has NOT stopped dangerous people getting into a school.
They can use some of that money that was earmarked for all the billboards around town with our county’s favorite sheriff on them.
http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-ruling-on-civil-forfeiture-2014-11
Yes The government can take your property without any due process
Listen up people. Let’s just cut the bull and say what is really at stake. Children’s lives. How much is a child’s life worth to you the taxpayer. Not black, white,hispanic and so on. Just a American child of yours and mine. Priceless. It’s simple we are at war. Not a gun war. A war on the freedom of our children to safely go to school and get an education. Put a tactical trained officers post on every school in our state. Then see how many armed individuals breech the sanctuary of our schools grounds. Soldiers die every day to defend our country. Men and women like them would be honored to defend the future of America from home grown terrorism. I know I would. Attacks would still happen but they would happen less with a lot smaller casualty numbers.
REGARDING:
“they are given every opportunity to explain but they can’t, and if you look these people up you will see a long criminal history mostly involving drugs, so let’s don’t pretend it law abiding, tax paying citizens.”
They probably ARE criminals, but the Constitution does require silly things like trials, jurors, evidence, PROOF, conviction. Most of what I have has little value other than as scrap (which probably explains the taking of two old aluminum boats and a wrecked 1979 Datsun B-210 station wagon without my permission — and not by law enforcement) but I would be sore pressed to show I bought most of it since that would require better record keeping that is usually the case.
I can’t prove innocence, somebody SHOULD prove guilt.
David for druggies funding their own fixes
without stealing from others
REGARDING:
“Where is all the revenue generated by the Florida Lottery, that was supposed to benefit education and the school system. That’ s how the lottery was sold to us. ”
For capital projects. Money to build new structures rather than money to maintain existing structures. They pointed that out at the time but lots of folks ignored it.
Later they copied Georgia by setting up Bright Futures, college scholarships for students who applied themselves rather than for dropouts. That was a good idea.
The state also cut educational funding from other sources so enhancement became more of the backbone.
( Psalm 146:3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. — Which is to say, we humans are unreliable.)
There is never plenty of money because there are many who know just where to spend every last penny — ten times over.
Besides, which would you rather have?
A school resource officer in every school?
Or electronic billboards showing our beloved sheriff with a caption under the picture telling you that water safety begins with you — that you’re on your own?
David for money well spent
Sheriff Hollywood aint gonna like that, it will take away from the money he is spending on all the billboards with his picture on them, and it may even take away from his TV budget
@Cooper and @Stumpknocker
Due process is seizure after conviction. Not seizure without even filing charges.
The police can and have seized assets without conviction or charges being filed. Look it up.
If you are so sure its all related to “drug dealers” why are there not charges being filed with convictions following?
https://www.heritage.org/economic-and-property-rights/commentary/civil-asset-forfeiture-has-created-serious-problems
No George, the Police can not just barge in and take your property. Property is normally seized during search warrants related to criminal activity. You may not be charged because you cooperate with the drug investigation. But your new 65 inch tv and your new truck may be seized because you payed cash for them and you don’t have a JOB. And yes, they will be sold at auction and the money put in LETF. That’s the price for being a low level drug dealer. Its Sheriffs like Morgan that push the envelope on how they spend that money that irritates me .
@George yes law enforcement dose seize property from some who are suspected of a crime and while investigating they learn that this person has $10,000 cash a $50,000 car and no job, no bank account and is not willing to prove how they acquire such things they are seized, they are given every opportunity to explain but they can’t, and if you look these people up you will see a long criminal history mostly involving drugs, so let’s don’t pretend it law abiding, tax paying citizens. If I was asked how I come by my assets I can show proof of everything I worked and earned in about 30 minuets.
Where is all the revenue generated by the Florida Lottery, that was supposed to benefit education and the school system. That’ s how the lottery was sold to us. The lottery generates more than enough revenue to fund school resource officers. Stop illegal seizure of citizens property , instead stop politicians from seizing from the tax payers. Have Gov. Scott pay the state back all the money the taxpayers paid to settle his lawsuits filed against him for violating Florida Sunshine laws for open Government . and for building a sea wall around a golf course in Orlando , this would pay for school resource officers.
What some don’t understand is to be a school resource officer it requires a lot of training which cost money, you don’t just put a patrol deputy in a school there’s training that goes with that particular assignment. But first they need to work on the compression issue, example a deputy has 7 years on no stripe on sleeve, the other deputy has 15 years on two stripes with 3 cents difference between them. What the citizens need to understand is that the ECSO has no retention, there is a shortage of deputy’s right now and has been for a while, so I doubt there’s going to be a great deal of seizure money, and when that money is not spent on training where will this new money come from, robbing Peter to pay Paul. This is an act by CC to not let a tragedy go to waste, let’s see how much money their willing to pony up.
If this was the Sheriff’s idea the vote would have been 5-0.
This trust fund is funded in part by civil asset forfeiture.
Civil Asset Forfeiture should be banned! If you don’t know what that is, google it. The cops can seize your assets without arresting you or even without filing charges.
It’s not America any longer if your property can be seized without charges and then the responsibility and cost is on YOU to go to court to make them return it.
Civil Asset Forfeiture is different than Criminal Asset Forfeiture where assets derived from criminal activity are seized after you are convicted of a crime. Due process is not respected with Civil Asset Forfeiture.
Seems a reasonable way to help fund the School Resource Officers.
Mr. Morgan’s argument of course will be that the amount of LET Funding cannot be predicted as it is based upon seizures of drug money and related property. Some years the amount may go up, others go down.
However, ANY real assistance to provide LEO in the schools is a big help in these crazy times we live in. Hard to convince me that funding Pensacola Little Theater has anything to do with drug prevention and neither do the billboards with Mr. Morgan’s face all over the county.
Cannot understand why Mr. Underhill would vote against this proposal to Governor Scott. It is after all only a proposal to change how the LET Funds are to be used. If Mr. Underhill has real heartburn on this issue then he should wait until the Escambia BoCC hears back from Gov. Scott. Mr. Underhill does always seem to take the side of Mr. Morgan no matter the issue so guess that is just a thing to be expected.
Thank you to the 4 of our Escambia Board of County Commissioners Bergosh, May, Robertson, Barry for putting our children’s safety and that of the school employees at the forefront. I for one sincerely hope this proposal gets good traction and becomes a reality.