Real Life Minority Report - Pasco County, Florida (1 Viewer)

[McBokonon]

This story is nuts.

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.”

In just five years, Nocco’s signature program has ensnared almost 1,000 people.

If the targets, their family members or associates wouldn’t speak to deputies or answer questions, STAR team deputies were told to look for code enforcement violations like faded mailbox numbers, a forgotten bag of trash or overgrown grass, Rodgers said.

The father of one Sheriff’s Office target was fined over the numbers posted on his house. The numbers were there, the document notes in the top-right, but a nearby light made them hard to see. The form indicates the father had to attend a mandatory court hearing. Pasco Sheriff’s Office

“We would literally go out there and take a tape measure and measure the grass if somebody didn’t want to cooperate with us,” he said.

Rodgers said people sometimes would fail to pay the fine, which would result in a warrant being issued for their arrest.

“We’d get them one way or another,” he said.

 

[foxco]

This is pretty messed up, though a bit bummed that no Precogs were mentioned. 

 

[whoknew]

Hopefully the ACLU is suing them.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

If the targets, their family members or associates wouldn’t speak to deputies or answer questions, STAR team deputies were told to look for code enforcement violations like faded mailbox numbers, a forgotten bag of trash or overgrown grass, Rodgers said.

It seems like STARS would be better off keeping an eye on Umbrella instead of worrying about overgrown lawns.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Wait til they develop their own covid app, for safety and public health purposes of course. 

 

[Zasada]

“Make their lives miserable until they move or sue.”

I hope they go with the latter, pillage the treasury, and get this clown fired or voted-out.

 

[trader jake]

Hopefully the ACLU is suing them.

Hell yeah.  Illegal in multiple ways.

You have to question the police force that feels this is a good idea and (based on this story alone) I'd guess they're doing other shady things.

 

[Chris B.]

How long is the sheriff's term? How does this not get halted by the mayor and governor?

 

[gump]

'PascoTucky' is ground zero for Florida Man. Crazy story but not surprised it's just getting noticed.

 

[Zow]

How long is the sheriff's term? How does this not get halted by the mayor and governor?

The mayor likely has no authority to do anything. 

Somewhat surprisingly, sheriffs generally have a ton of autonomy and discretion. In my experience, the only real checks on their authority come from the associated prosecutor's office (by refusing to prosecute their cases), possibly a state attorney general, and any deterrence from lawsuits. 

ETA: I suppose a county's board of supervisors would provide some oversight as well - in which case the sheriff could go all Sheriff Joe and essentially work with the equally crooked county attorney to falsely indict the board. 

 

[Osaurus]

Pasco gonna Pasco. I avoid that county as much as possible. Especially anywhere along US-19. Oof