Life in Amerika:
How a Florida Sheriff harasses families: Watch the body-cam video
3 September 2020
How a Florida Sheriff harasses families: Watch the body-cam video
3 September 2020
Over the past five years, nearly 1,000 Pasco County residents have been swept up in the Pasco Sheriff’s Office’s data-driven policing program. The program aims to use analytics to identify people who the department thinks are most likely to commit future crimes. Deputies create a list and “check on” anyone whose name appears. They knock on doors at all hours of the day and night. They look for reasons to write code enforcement citations or arrest the targets and their friends and family. “We’re bothering criminals,” Sheriff Chris Nocco said in 2011. “That’s what we do.” At least 1 in ...
In 2019, 15-year-old Rio Wojtecki was labeled a “Top 5” criminal — a category intended for key players in criminal networks. Deputies started checking on him around the clock. Rio and his family didn’t understand why. Even the deputies conceded he only had one charge on his record, from when he and some friends stole two motorized bikes. He already had a probation officer checking on him for that. The deputies told him to stop hanging out with his “bad” friends. The department has told the Times that Rio was in a gang. Rio says he was not. When Rio ...
When Sheila Smith’s son began getting into trouble, she sent him to another county to live with his grandmother, hoping to get him away from bad influences. The Sheriff’s Office signed off on the arrangement, she said. But deputies started visiting her and her husband, anyway, asking to check on their son. Each time, Smith calmly explained that her son had moved away. They came again after that, department records show. Smith said there were more checks that weren’t recorded. Once, deputies handcuffed Smith’s husband and put him in the back of their squad car. After some time, they released ...
After multiple visits and more than $2,500 in code enforcement citations, Tammy Heilman told a deputy asking about her son — one of the program’s targets — to call her attorney. Late for her 7-year-old daughter’s Girl Scout meeting, she drove away in a rush. The deputy yelled that they weren’t wearing seat belts. He followed her down the block, pulled her over and arrested her. Heilman was charged with resisting arrest and battery on an officer. She also was charged with providing false information about her son. Deputies told her family that she was arrested for driving away with ...
Deputies asked to speak with Michelle Dotson’s developmentally disabled grandson, Da’Marion, about a car theft. She asked them to leave and contact his attorney, she said. They waited on the street and when the teenager came outside for school, a deputy stepped toward him. Dotson grabbed her grandson by the wrist. The Sheriff’s Office didn’t provide footage of this part of the encounter, but the police report said Dotson grabbed a deputy and refused to let go. She denies it. Deputies arrested Dotson and two other family members who tried to help. One was a 20-year-old relative, who tried to ...
In the last five years, Pasco County sheriff’s deputies checked on people on the list and their families more than 12,500 times.
