Accreditation is a big deal for law enforcement

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.

The sheriff was in Fort Myers early last week to talk about the accreditation to our jail and bureau of law enforcement services.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “The sheriff’s office in Monroe County is state and nationally accredited in our law enforcement divisions, state and nationally accredited in our jail divisions, and our jail medical is also nationally accredited. So it’s every four years you’re up for re-accreditation, and accreditation is pretty vigorous. You have to comply with 200, 300 standards, and you have to have proofs to show that you’re complying with each and every one of them. These are standards which are set by the industry, the best practices. So you’re living by the best practices in the industry. You’re willing to let yourself be evaluated each and every day, and have to prove that you are doing as such. So we do believe in accreditation, and we were able to complete all the standards on both the on site inspections, about a three day inspection, they’re bringing down about three inspectors at a time. They go through everything, from your files, your policies, your procedures, they spend time with your officers asking questions to see if they know. They look at stuff to see how you’re actually doing it to make sure you are doing what you’re supposed to be doing. So it’s very vigorous, very stressful for our team members, but I always tell people, we’re inspection ready each and every day, and we were successful, and we were re-accredited by what’s called Florida PAC, and on Tuesday we received our re-accreditation for our jail programs through FPAC, and on the following day, we went in and we received our re-accreditation for what was called CFA, which is our law enforcement accreditation. So a really proud time for my team members who worked hard for MCSO and the community to know that they have a professional law enforcement agency who’s living by best practices and standards.”

The financial audit for MSCO also shows a flawless operation.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “The reality is by law, the jail is the responsibility the Board of County Commission, but the sheriff’s office in most counties run the jails for the counties. We don’t have to, but it’s just kind of a good fit. So we do operate the jail facilities, and we operate those in a professional manner. It’s a lot more work, have some aggravation, but it’s just again, probably a pretty good fit to stay with the office of the sheriff versus the county.”

A man recently tried to steal a vehicle in Stock Island.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “This vehicle was actually stolen from the city of Key West. It was a city of Key West vehicle, one of their public works vehicles, and the sheriff’s office received a call on Stock Island about a suspicious person acting very erratic. So we sent units out there, and we found this individual on the roof up off of Maloney. When we got there, he was coming down a ladder and fell, and then was given some orders to stop, and then he took off running. So Key West PD was there as well with us to help aid and assist. It turned into a foot pursuit chase. We eventually did get this individual. It was a male who resided in Key West and again appeared to be high on something, really erratic and unusual behavior. We ultimately found him by a vehicle, the city of Key West truck, which was running, door open, music blaring. We believe he stole it, but we didn’t see him behind the wheel at the time. So it took us some background investigation to get with the city to verify it was stolen, because it wasn’t listed as a stolen vehicle, they didn’t know, so it was an unreported stolen vehicle. Then they had to do some investigative background, to do some surveillance footage from where it was stolen to where he wound up. Eventually, we did find some surveillance footage which showed him driving the vehicle behind the wheel of this truck. So we arrested him for Grand Theft Auto and other related charges, trespassing, criminal mischief. He did some damage while there. This is on Wednesday, when we got this storm here, so we’re under emergency situations, having to deal with this clown. But again, just part of our job.”

A motorist was recently arrested for brandishing a handgun in a road rage incident in Key Largo.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “We hate to see this. There’s just no reason or need to pull a gun, only bad things happen, and so we did get a call about this road rage. We did get out with the suspect and the victim in this case, there was two witnesses to the counter. Both witnesses identified and described a gun pretty specifically. The suspect in this case denied any action with a weapon. But after receiving the information two different witnesses, the accounts, we did locate the gun in the car, and it was as described. So it gave us probable cause to believe that he did brandish his weapon at this individual and did threaten their lives. So, was driving down the road, had the gun pointed from while sitting in a car, out the driver’s window at the other person, and then when it came to a stop, jumped out without the gun this time, but continued in an argumentative combative manner when we arrived on scene there. But it always goes to show how scary it can be to be a police officer that you’re responding to calls where people are violent, acting crazy, pointing guns at people, and now we have to try to de escalate, investigate and get to the bottom of it and or deal with people that we know have guns.”

When a Mazda sedan hit a curb at the Tavernier 711, drug paraphernalia was found in plain sight inside that sedan, as well as drugs and a loaded nine millimeter handgun.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “We were called for a minor crash. A vehicle struck a curb at the Tom Thumb, got on scene, found the driver in the car from Miami. We did find in plain view in looking in the car, drug paraphernalia, ultimately, a small amount of methamphetamines. Ultimately, we did locate a gun in the car too, as well. So this person appears to be a meth addict who’s in possession of a gun and is a danger to each and every one of us out there in the highway. Again, this is our Miami Dade County influence. A lot of our crimes do derive from Dade County. Overall, most people in Dade County are good people, but we sure have a lot of people that come in this county from Dade that would cause us a lot of problems.”

Two Miami Dade County Florida anglers were given mandatory notice to appear in court Sunday in Key Largo for possessing over the limit and undersized fish.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “This is a Marine officer from the Upper Keys Islamorada patrol station really been vigilant, doing resource checks at two different locations. One there by Taverner Creek Bridge, two individuals, both of Miami Dade County, again, both had over the bag limit and undersized snapper. We look at these fish in the pictures, they’re just so tiny. They haven’t had that chance to even reproduce one time and then the officer is on another bridge down there, about the 70 something mile marker, and another male from Miami Dade County again, out there fishing again, and more undersized, over the bag limit fish. We just continue to see this. There’s so many violations occurring out there, and it’s hard for the sheriff’s office because we can’t be everywhere, and it’s not our prime job. So we’re trying to do our prime job on top of helping our friends in FWC. But I made it one of my initiatives to focus on this, besides our community policing, our clean street initiatives. But also, just because we do have enforcement powers and we have to do something to stop this constant barrage of attack on our environment or there’ll be nothing left one day if we don’t stop these poachers. That’s what they are. I call them poachers because they’re generally getting fish they’re not allowed to get. They don’t have licenses most time, they’re over the bag limit, they’re short fish. They’re fish they can’t be taking. They don’t care. They just come down from Dade into Monroe just to wreak havoc in our resources.”

Fantasy Fest is coming up.

Sheriff Ramsay said, “Fantasy Fest is a good time for those who are coming down and we tell people leave early, plan ahead when you’re going down, because you’ll see heavy traffic trying to get into the Keys, especially into Key West. Parking is always challenging. If you take some alternate means to get down there, or have some plans to park a car outside of the city of Key West or the event, you’ll be better off. When you leave, you should be really vigilant. Make sure you have a designated driver. When you’re leaving, half the cars are probably some level of impairment, so really a dangerous time when you’re after a Fantasy Fest down there. When you are going, there’ll be sheriff’s office deputies that help, aiding, assisting our friends at Key West Police. We’ll have a bunch of officers out there. We want to try to help the city the best we can. It’s an interesting event, but it is challenging between getting in, parking, dealing with drunks, trying to get home safely. So if you go, just be patient, and know you’re dealing with a lot of intoxicated people who can be aggravating at times, and when you are driving, pay attention. Put your phone down on the way, especially home, because there’s so many impaired drivers that leave Fantasy Fest. Police can’t do a roadblock and stop and check every person driving. They’re so busy, swamped with all the detail events and the drunks downtown that it’s a tricky time. I myself, unless I’m working, do not mess with it, because it’s just too much chaos.”