Pasco (FL) sheriff created program that monitors and harasses families.
[FAC NOTE: Yesterday’s Tampa Bay Times ran a story that sent chills down my spine. Having experience with the registry, I know what it’s like to live with a microscope up my ass, but having a mainstream news outlet publish the details of a police program designed to harass and entrap others feels almost vindicating. I’ve been describing this exact life for years – few believe it can happen]
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.
One former deputy described the directive like this: “Make their lives miserable until they move or sue.”
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Screw these people. Cheers to those on the force who resigned and are part of a lawsuit against this Nocco idiot.
This is a case of police procedures stepping all over the constitutional rights of people. And not enough people are fighting it. I’m willing to bet that the few families who said they didn’t mind the police check ups were most likely BULLIED by the cops to say only positive things about their tactics. Total bullshit.
How did we get from the Constitution where Freedom and Liberty is paramount, to this type of policing, where trampling of people’s rights are done without retaliation? A class action lawsuit by these people needs to be brought against the County.
“Make their lives miserable till they move or sue”
I guess they don’t believe that these people who are “prone to commit crimes” are going to retaliate with violence.
Keep on pushing buttons, i want to see an uprising.
I believe this kind of action should be taken to court and challenged. It seem that the sheriff is playing with the law, cops giving citations for the code enforcement officer, so why have code enforcement. Even officer, during them for a great number of violations, where the probable cause. I known people over there and god help them.
Make sure his name is on that list and unfortunately ever deputy they send because that is illegal.
This is nothing more than profiling, abusive harassment and abuse of power.
Who does this asshole think he is. Clearly he has a savior complex or perhaps is just a sick stocker who gets off on doing it those who have already suffered at the force of the system so that just makes him sadistic bully – “perfect” for Florida law enforcement!