Pasco County Florida Department Of (Not-Really) Pre-Crime

 Tampa Bay Pravda published an article on Pasco's Intelligence Led Policing.

One thing I noticed was

In the past two years alone, two of the nation’s largest law enforcement agencies have scrapped similar programs following public outcries and reports documenting serious flaws.

They don't name whom the two agencies are.  But most of the largest agencies are also in the places where there' no Republican option, and hasn't been for decades and have gigantic crime problems. 

Pasco County Sheriff's Department was, understandably, miffed at this article and they published a response to Facebook.

We are aware of a recent report by a media outlet in the Tampa Bay area that attempts to paint our Intelligence-Led Policing philosophy in a negative light.

While the media outlet was provided over 30 pages of factual information to disprove their theory of so-called “harassment”, it was extremely disappointing to see this fact-based information take a backseat to supposed “reliable sources”, who have lengthy criminal histories, or who are former members of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office that were held accountable for their actions.


For example, the “reliable sources” named in this report who were held accountable for their actions by the Pasco Sheriff’s Office engaged in conduct such as:

* One “reliable source” quoted by the article, leading up to their resignation from the agency, was under investigation for engaging in sexual relations with a confidential informant

* One “reliable source” quoted by the article had numerous, documented accounts of insubordination and failing to follow proper policies and procedures of the Pasco Sheriff’s Office

* One “reliable source” quoted by the article abandoned an extra duty detail without permission and went to a female subordinate’s personal residence while she was off duty without invitation

Sadly, one of these supposed “reliable sources” admitted in the article that he did not follow proper policies and procedures by not documenting prolific offender checks, though we are unable to verify this information. This failure to follow policy and procedure is exactly why the “reliable source” is no longer with the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, along with several other policy violations.

It is dismaying to see the media demand accountability in law enforcement, something the Pasco Sheriff’s Office wholly supports and endorses as evidenced by our use of Body Worn Cameras as a small example, only to then use those who were held accountable as “reliable sources” with no consideration of their past actions or what led them to be held accountable. 


Let us be abundantly clear, the Intelligence-Led Policing philosophy works and has worked around the Tampa Bay area, as the same philosophy is used by numerous law enforcement agencies. It works because it reduced residential burglaries in Pasco County by 74.4% since it was implemented in 2011 and it works because property crimes are down 35.6% in that same time period. In fact, ILP was started in England in the 1990s and is hardly a new phenomenon or approach to law enforcement.

Contrary to the report, ILP is not a futuristic, predictive model where people are arrested for crimes they have not yet committed. Instead, the system is based SOLELY on an individual’s criminal history. Multiple studies have shown that 6% of the population commit 60% of the crime and that is what this model focuses on.

Let us, again, be profusely clear that this model is based SOLELY on an individual’s criminal history. It is nameless, faceless, ageless, genderless and removes ALL identifying factors of an individual, EXCEPT for their criminal history. This philosophy removes any chance of bias in law enforcement, which is something that should be celebrated.


For example, an individual who was arrested 15 times in the last three years is more likely to commit an additional crime, as evidenced by a documented propensity for committing crime, than someone who has never been arrested. As such, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office visits and provides resources to the person who was arrested 15 times to attempt to break the cycle of recidivism and better protect our community from crime.


This is not a judgment on an individual with a criminal history but, instead, a fact that cannot be ignored as we attempt to positively impact the criminal environment in Pasco County and keep our community safe.

That is what the ILP philosophy is, not a futuristic, crime predictive tool that arrests an individual for crimes not yet committed, despite the media report’s best assertion that the theory was taken straight out of fictional Hollywood movies like “Minority Report.”

Additionally, this media outlet appears to labor under the notion that both our ILP Analysts and STAR deputies exist exclusively to coordinate aspects of the Top 5 lists and Prolific Offender lists. In reality, these aspects are but a small subset of each parties’ job functions. As was provided to this outlet numerous times, ILP analysts work on nearly every case the Pasco Sheriff’s Office investigates, with the underlying, yet ever-present, goal of bettering the lives of the citizens of Pasco County through the reduction of crime. This includes cases such as the recovery of missing individuals and drug arrests leading to 435,000 lethal doses of fentanyl being removed from Pasco’s streets. Furthermore, STAR deputies are integral components of the search and successful safe recovery of missing Pasco children, both in and out of our county, among other daily activities wholly unrelated to making contact with prolific offenders.

We continue to be open and transparent with our community and those that we serve, which is why we want to ensure you, our citizens, had this information. 


It is sad that there are media outlets attempting to drive division between a community and law enforcement by relying on previous employees who were held accountable for their actions as well as individuals with lengthy criminal histories and ignoring the more than 30 pages of well-researched facts that the Pasco Sheriff’s Office provided. 


It is also sad that this same media outlet refuses to report on the good work of our Behavioral Health Intervention Team and the fact that our men and women recently took 435,000 lethal doses of fentanyl off of Pasco’s streets. This is selection bias at its worst and the reason we connect with our community directly on social media.

We stand with our community and we are deeply grateful that you continue to stand with us.

As we told the media outlet, we will not apologize for continuing to keep our community safe.

Thank you for your continued support.

 

 As a person who's been on the receiving end of some of Pasco's enforcement, I don't feel particularly persecuted.

You'd think that it would be more onerous because we have had to call them in to help with The Boy's elopement issues a few times since the charges were dropped.

Their interactions with and responses to The Boy thanks to the development and employment of their Behavioral Health Intervention Team have been excellent, and have gone from conventional screaming threats at a non-compliant subject to actually assessing that some people just cannot understand because of mental health issue not because they're being defiant.

Perhaps it's because I'm not one of the small percentage of the population that commits the most crime and the algorithm (Wouldn't Al Gore Rhythm Section be a great name for an easy listening band?) is good enough to see that?

Because the calls I've made since my arrest are the same as the call that led to my arrest.  I've gotten better at explaining the situation and they've gotten better at understanding the situation.

PS: Tampa Bay Pravda is the same periodical whom are pleased as punch that the Parkland Massacre Enabling Laws are being expanded in Hillsborough County.