October 10 – The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department works diligently to maintain a safe and secure environment for everyone in the Florida Keys
Sheriff Rick Ramsay joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about incidents in the county.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office took a clear stance against looting in the aftermath of the Hurricane Ian.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “You know it’s unfortunate that at a really sad time some people do come forward and try to take advantage of the situation. After Hurricane Irma, we had a couple attempts for looting here as well, but we stopped those right away. Made immediate arrests.”
Looters in the west coast of Florida were stopped right away, as well.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We have to send these strong messages and we have to protect people and we have to protect our properties, especially while they’re not able to because their properties are in disarray.”
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Department had in service training this past week. Last month there was active shooter training to keep the opening of schools safe.
This week the officers were focusing on driving, defensive tactics, firearms and scenario-based training to try to make it as realistic as possible.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “We obviously hope for the best, but we plan for the worst and train for the worst to make sure we are able to do our jobs and protect and serve our citizens.”
Vigilance is important to make sure the schools are secure.
Sheriff Ramsay suggested, “There’s no doubt this is something that we should be doing every day from parents to teachers to students to police officers, is to work together, a collective partnership to make sure our schools remain safe and secure.”
The Sheriff’s department works closely with the school districts.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Our men and women take it very seriously. This is one of the safest communities anywhere, but crime does happen and even tragic things can happen. It just takes one person who’s got some beef, some mental issue, some desire to go out and try to attack a school. We continue to try to have our ears to the ground and try to be prepared and make sure these schools have single points of entry and make sure our staff are well-trained and we’re talking to the kids and hope that they’re passing and sharing information. It’s a scary time right now across America, but we’ve got to be part of the solution and do the best we can to protect our community.”
Another business that partners with the sheriff’s department is Robbie’s of Islamorada.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “He’s been a really good, strong partner for the sheriff’s office, a big business community leader. We need the support, so when we have it, we always try to acknowledge these great partners that we have and come out and award them with a plaque or award and make we personally thank them and make sure they know they are appreciated. Their partnership is what’s helped make this one of the safest places anywhere.”
Migrants coming into the area will likely continue to be a problem.
Indeed there was a vessel that sank just before the hurricane and so far seven bodies have washed ashore. Seventeen are still missing and likely won’t be found.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “It just goes to show the difficulties in third world countries, how desperate the people are and what they’re willing to do to try to get to a better place.”
There are migrant landings almost every day.
Sheriff Ramsay noted, “It does create work problems for us, additional workloads. When they perish if it’s in state waters, we have to do death investigations, which are very timely and difficult in nature. Part of our job also after we try to make identifications of who these persons are is to try to make notifications to next of kin, which are in third world countries, which really is challenging. It’s desperate times out there and unfortunately with desperate times comes bad situations.”
Recruitment is always an issue for all organizations and the sheriff’s department is not immune.
Sheriff Ramsay said, “Probably my biggest need right now is detention deputies working in our jail systems. These are really good, high-paying jobs, good benefits, very safe environment. People thing jail, you think what you see on TV. This is a very clean facility. It’s very safe, orderly. We don’t have officers getting hurt or injured. This is not a bad job at all. Good retirement. Good benefits. Good future.”
Jobs are also open in the 911 center, law enforcement, civilian records and human resources. There are probably about 40 open jobs right now.
Anyone interested in a job, click here: https://www.keysso.net/