Give Bradshaw new term, but demand more
Ric Bradshaw almost certainly will win the new term as Palm Beach County sheriff that he deserves to win.
After the election, though, we hope that Bradshaw will treat this fifth term theway he did his first and second terms— with a sense of urgency and purpose.
After taking office in 2004, Bradshaw, a Democrat, faced a department in crisis. Under his predecessor, Ed Bieluch, standards had slipped and management was weak.
Over those first four years, Bradshaw raised standards with lasting impact. In 2015, the agency received the highest ranking fromthe Commission for Florida Law Enforcement.
During his second term, Bradshaw mobilized the agency to deal with two major threats to public safety. Working closely with then-State Attorney Michael McAuliffe, the department closed down prescription painkiller “pill mills” and waged a major campaign against street gangs.
Then, however, came a string of officerinvolved shootings. In the most high-profile case, a deputy stopped Dontrell Stephens for riding his bicycle erratically. The confrontation left Stephens paralyzed. This year, Gov. DeSantis signed a claims bill that gave Stephens a settlement of $6 million.
In addition, the agency also found itself embarrassed by revelations about the treatment of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein when he served his absurdly light sentence of 18 months in the Palm Beach County Jail, which the sheriff’s office runs. That plea deal was brokered by then-U.S Attorney Alexander Acosta and then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer.
Epstein got work release, and deputies treated him more like an honored guest than an inmate during what turned out to be just 13 months in 2008 and 2009. Hewas allowed out during the day to supposedly work at an office thatwas a sham. An attorney for some of the victims charged that Epstein was able to have sex while outside the jail.
Through it all, Bradshaw has asked for larger and larger budgets, citing the need to maintain levels of service. For this year, it’s $740 million, or roughly half of the county’s operating budget. When county commissioners have questioned the spending, Bradshaw has threatened to appeal any cuts he opposes to the governor, who can override the commission.
This year, despite the months of protest about lawenforcement spending, commissioners approved Bradshaw’s budget with little discussion. County Mayor Dave Kerner said he has a good working relationship with the sheriff.
In a campaign email, Bradshaw said he has delivered “reforms.” He cites the “tactical pause” policy change that cut the number of officer-involved shootings and the creation of teams that pair mental healthworkers with deputies on calls. That added expertise also can head off violent confrontations. The department also has established the 8 Cant Wait changes that include banning chokeholds.
In other areas, though, Bradshawand the agency are far from reform-minded. As many other departments adopted body cameras, which can protect not just suspects but officers, Bradhsaw resisted, citing cost and technology issues. The cameras finally are in the budget, but the money will come out of the sales tax surcharge for infrastructure, not directly fromthe sheriff’s capital budget.
Bradshaw also has resisted the use of civil citations, rather than arrests, for misdemeanor marijuana possession. “Further discussion on this issue is warranted,” Bradshaw said in his Sun Sentinel Editorial Board questionnaire.
During our interview, Bradshaw stressed that deputies might want to question those stopped on the marijuana charge, perhaps to check for a gun. His response sounded more like an excuse to put off a change that could keep people from having a criminal record for something that some legislators in Florida want to decriminalize or even legalize.
Given the political force he has become, Bradshaw has little worry about keeping his job. The sheriff has raised almost $800,000— roughly $75,000 in the most recent reporting period alone. He has support fromthe local police union and others in Florida. He got $1,000 from Jack Nicklaus. He has donors from around the country.
Bradshaw’s Republican challenger, Lauro Diaz, has raised about $85,000. He spent 27 years with the Palm Beach sheriff’s office, but Diaz hasworked the last three years in the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office. His priority on taking office would be to review every departmental policy. That is a promise of inaction, not change.
Bradshaw is 72. Barring extraordinary developments or age-related problems, the job is his as long as hewants it. He is chairman of the Southeast Regional Domestic Security Task Force and the Florida’s Sheriff’s regional task force. He’s on the board of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.
No one in Palm Beach County can match Bradshaw’s qualifications and experience. He has been a lawenforcement officer for 50 years and admits to being old school. There is no question that his priority is protecting the community. Broward County would love to have a sheriff with Bradshaw’s record and an office with that sort of stability.
But that job security also seems to make Bradshaw believe that accountability doesn’t apply to him. As the Palm Beach Post reported, the sheriff’s office this year leased temporary space in Palm Beach Gardens— during renovations of the agency’s headquarters— for himself and the department’s top managers at a rate far higher than that of nearby space. The sheriff’s wife works for the company that brokered the deal.
Bradshaw said his wife received no fees or commission fromthe deal. But the sheriff declined the paper’s request for a tour of the office.
With his political capital and credibility, Bradshaw could make the sheriff’s office an example of howto reform lawenforcement without getting caught up in the “defunding” debate. He could further enhance training in de-escalation and implicit bias. The state’s population has tripled in the last four decades, but the incarceration rate is 10 times higher in that period, with minorities jailed and imprisoned at disproportionately higher rates.
In addition, Bradshaw could stop the excessive militarization of police agencies. Given his standing with the union, he might broker helpful changes to Florida’s Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights, which dates back almost half a century and makes it very hard to fire bad police officers.
Bradshaw also could promote transparency by, among other things, dropping his opposition to the release of Epstein’s grand jury records. His dismissal of Epstein’s special treatment— and his lack of interest in knowing howthe plea deal happened— insults the victims who sawthe system betray them.
A newly energized Bradshaw could shape the sheriff’s office for the coming, changing decades. Spend that political capital; don’t hoard it. The Sun Sentinel recommends Ric Bradshaw for Palm Beach County sheriff.