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.
Community policing is an integral part of MCSO.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Community policing is so important, and long as I’m the sheriff, that’s going to be the foundation of our organization, getting out there, knowing our citizens, knowing our needs, wants, desires, expectations are so critical and it’s important that we be accessible, we be visible, we be transparent, and we’re going to keep doing that. So it’s good to see you and other leaders of our community on Saturday at the Leadership Monroe event in the city park in Marathon. I enjoyed to spend a little time with you on the radio and talking to your listeners on your sister station. We continue to be focused on community first approaches, which are the way to go, partnerships, not only internal, but external.”
The quarterly member awards ceremony in Marathon happened on Friday.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We have so many outstanding young men and women doing difficult, challenging jobs every day, and we just have to continue to acknowledge the good work they do, that they’re appreciated. It’s always hard to find the one officer to award. There’s so many men and women that are deserving, but we have to find that one person. It’s so important for all of us, and you do your part, you’re a good partner to me and this community, and that’s what we keep trying to focus on, is all working together. But yes, acknowledging good behavior, no matter what the person does, whether it be sheriff’s office or any other organization, is so critical. People need to know that they’re doing good stuff, that they’re on target, that they’re appreciated, and others need to know what good stuff they’ve done. It goes a long way to get someone a pat on the back or acknowledge their work. Sometimes leaders tend to forget that or lose sight of how important that is.”
A 21 year old Stock Island Florida man was arrested Wednesday on gun and drug charges, and charged with possession of a firearm in a commission of a felony, possession of marijuana with intent to sell, possession of synthetic cannabinoid, and driving with a suspended license and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This young man is really starting his adult life off on a bad note. He comes from a very good family. I know the family very well, but he got arrested just two, three days earlier by Key West Police for the same charges of us, weapons of mass, drugs, no valid driver’s license. After bonding out, he immediately appears to have gone back to Miami to pick up more drugs, and we encountered him last week, just days after being released from jail on bond again around Big Coppitt with a handgun, had a firearm in the vehicle, had a large amount of marijuana, had a THC oils, vape cartridges, the scales, drug paraphernalia. This is not a user. This is a dealer, a drug dealer, had large bags of marijuana, all labeled in different type of names based on, I guess, what’s in them. This is the second time that he’s returning to my jail on serious charges of felony drug charges and felony weapon charges. 21 years old, you’re just starting your adult life. He’s just ruining his life. I know his family has tried to talk to him and get him to go the right path, but right now, he’s on the path to Nowheresvill USA if he doesn’t make a dramatic course change. He’s going to be spending a lot of time now and in the future in jails and prisons. So we hope this is a rude awakening that is not too late. But he’s not helping himself, and he’s not helping the citizens as he’s dispersing drugs to our citizens on the streets.”
A Stock Island woman was arrested on Thursday for entering a house boat without permission and hitting the occupant.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “This appears to be a domestic related matter. This is an ex girlfriend, ex boyfriend situation. Apparently they had not been together for several months, but she came over to his house boat where he resides, and then she illegally entered the houseboat, yelling, screaming, demanding he give her money. During the course of this, she allegedly battered the occupant, committing a crime therein. Thus it changes from a trespass to a burglary. When you enter and remain in a structure, a dwelling, with the intent to commit a crime, it enhances it. So at some point in time, if the relationship’s over, you just move on. For better or worse, whether you want it to be over or not, when it’s over, it’s over, but when you come back to these situations, you should not expect a good outcome. The outcome, she’s at my jail on charges for burglary and battery. So just sad to see this. Just move on.”
There has been a steady decrease in violent crimes over the past number of years in Monroe County.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We were blessed to have a reduction of 13% of major index crime again this year. We’ve seen reductions almost I think every year I’ve been the sheriff. We’re sitting at record low levels of crime. But it comes down to partnerships, good, hard working men and women in the sheriff’s office, partnerships with our local, state, federal law enforcement, and our partnerships with you and our citizens, our extensions of the sheriff’s office, which makes us so strong and viable. So we’re doing a lot of good stuff out there for sure. We continue to try to be focused on quality of life, like we just talked about earlier, and Key West Police, they’re a great partner. This week, they dealt with a very difficult situation with a shooting. The Sheriff’s Office Trauma Star helicopter flew out one of the victims, which was shot multiple times over some type of argument down on Green Street, I’m understanding. Don’t know many details, but we’re busy. They’re busy. Had a couple pursuits over the weekend we dealt with down this way as well. We had two of them. In fact, both were female drivers, which is kind of unusual. We had one we tried to stop on a traffic stop or no break or tail lights, and it turned into a pursuit which varied between 35 and 65 mile an hour on US 1, for a long period of time down in the Lower Keys, between the 32 and the 19 mile marker before we stopped the vehicle, finally, using the Stinger Spike system to deflate the tires. We spiked out three out of four tires. Soon thereafter, what we wanted to happen, happened, was riding on three rims, it slows the speeds down to a safer speed. Ultimately, the driver stopped, which is what the spikes are designed to do. We arrested her for fleeing from the police as well. Then we had another case just two days earlier. Again, attempted to stop a car, which is called in by motorists for driving about 20 below the speed limit and driving unusually erratic. We saw the vehicle. We tried to do a stop on the car. Again, the same situation, car would not stop, speeds varied for a period of time. At one time, the car pulled over for a split second at a gas station. We thought the pursuit was going to end there, as officers are prepared to get out of the car and try to deal with her. She again, jumped in, put the car in drive and took off. The pursuit continued on. Again, Stinger spikes were being deployed. We got that car stopped, arrested her as well for the fleeing case. So unusually odd to see two females involved in pursuits in a couple days with no real reason, not a violent crime, why they’re fleeing? But there are a danger to the highway. We’ve got to stop these people. You can’t let people just think they can flee and get away and be held accountable and or check their mental physical status about driving a vehicle erratically, but the Stinger spikes are designed specifically to stop pursuits, not have high speed runs, not endanger our citizens and make them as safe as possible, but also make it viable for us to be able to stop these threats on the highway.”