The Purge: JSO begins stripping names of officers in police shootings from its ‘transparency’ page, citing Marsy s Law
JSO is retroactively censoring the names of officers involved in police shootings, following a court ruling that determined officers are victims too. Author: Anne Schindler Updated: 6:03 AM EDT May 7, 2021
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Police shootings around the country have heightened calls for greater transparency from law enforcement.
But in Florida, things are moving in the opposite direction.
Following last month’s court ruling by the First District Court of Appeal, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has quietly begun redacting the names of officers who shot or killed people in the line of duty from its public databases. Going forward, JSO will no longer release the identity of any officer involved in a police shooting.
Update:
Jacksonville police said that 27-year-old Chelsea Elaine Swafford was found safe Saturday evening. Detectives continue investigating the shooting death as well as Swafford s possible abduction. The Sheriff s Office continues asking for the public s help identifying and locating the man and pickup truck police suspect are involved in the case.
Jacksonville police are investigating the possible abduction of a woman after receiving a tip about her as detectives were investigating a predawn fatal shooting Saturday in a Westside neighborhood.
The Sheriff s Office is searching for Chelsea Elaine Swafford, 27, to determine if she is safe and unharmed. She is Black, about 5-feet, 4-inches tall with brown eyes and black hair, police said.
A Jacksonville police officer s recent comments in an arrest report perpetuate an emerging concern about e-scooters after he chased a violator around downtown. It should be noted that failure to operate motorized scooters safely and in accordance with Florida statutes has recently become a rampant and very dangerous problem in the urban core since several businesses have started making electric motorized scooters available to the public for rent, Officer J.R. Peppers wrote.
The City Council approved the bill authorizing the “dockless mobility programs for a year, allowing bicycles and scooters with electric batteries “for point-to-point trips” in a designated downtown area.
08:34 AM EST Share The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said there is no firm date to move from Regency Square Mall.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office appears to be moving its Zone 2 Substation in Arlington from Regency Square Mall to the Merrill Crossing shopping center at northeast Southside Connector and Merrill Road.
The city issued a permit March 4 for Warden Contracting Corp. to build-out 7,000 square feet of space at 9119 Merrill Road, No. 26, at a cost of $121,655.
The site is about 3 miles north of the Regency Square substation at 9501 Arlington Expressway.
“The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has been in the process of seeking and acquiring a new, larger space for Zone 2’s Substation,” said JSO Public Information Officer Christian Hancock in an email March 4.
A statewide police search ended successfully when a 4-month-old Jacksonville girl and her mother were found safe Saturday evening
The Sheriff s Office announced about 6 p.m. that Yisrael Joy Toler and her mother Evelyne Idella Franzua had been located.
However, police didn t say where mother and daughter were found, how they were located or the circumstances of their apparent disappearance, which led the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to issue a statewide Missing Child Alert for Yisrael before dawn Saturday.
FDLE had issued its alert about 3 a.m. roughly 90 minutes after the Sheriff s Office put out a news release announcing officers were searching for Yisrael and her mother to determine if they are safe.