Justice, Police

Florida Cops Wants To Use Hurricane To Make Arrests

The lack of humanity will blow you away.

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It takes a special kind of person to look at a deadly natural disaster as an opportunity to make lives worse, but Florida is a very special place.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Winter Haven, Florida, blasted out a series of Tweets threatening to check IDs and arrest people with outstanding warrants who seek SHELTER from Hurricane Irma.

They weren’t even subtle about their callous threats to put people in jail for running from a major hurricane. From CNN:

“If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we’ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail.”

The Tweets also said that people with outstanding warrants would be arrested, and that “[s]ex offenders/predators will not be allowed” refuge.

I can’t explain “basic humanity” to people in Florida, but I can explain that people with “outstanding warrants” might include people with too many parking tickets, or those who skipped out on a family court hearing. Making those people choose between JAIL and SAFETY is as stupid as it is cruel.

It is also worth noting that “sex offenders” don’t have “outstanding warrants” so much as they’ve been put in jail for their crimes and released on condition of registering as a sex offender. Is Polk County really saying that they are just going to turn away people who committed prior bad acts that they’ve already been punished for? If you don’t think a sex offender should get something as basic as hurricane shelter, than you might as well just kill these people once you convict them.

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The Tweets don’t specifically threaten undocumented immigrants, but Polk County does say: “If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs.” I’m sure undocumented Floridians will get the message. Being made to show your papers before being granted shelter from the apocalypse sounds like a plot line from the Walking Dead, but at this point, I think we all know that actual zombies are more humane than Florida cops.

Let’s not mince words about what is happening here: People could DIE because of these Tweets. People who might have sought shelter will NOT because of these threats from the police. And not just in Polk County. All across Florida, people with “warrants” and people without IDs will see these Tweets and assume (REASONABLY) that they represent how most departments will treat them, and choose instead to ride out potentially the most devastating storm to hit Florida in decades.

They will shelter in place, they will not call for help, and they will die. Rescuers and first responders who find the Polk County Tweets offensive and unhelpful will then be asked to risk their lives trying to save the very people who were told that they would not be given shelter.

And then Jeff Sessions will give the Polk County Sheriff a medal for maintaining “law and order.”

Sheriff says those with warrants should go to jail; not a hurricane shelter [CNN]

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Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.

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