(The Center Square) – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Wednesday that 7,800 law enforcement officers have taken advantage of the state’s recruitment bonus program since its launch in 2022.
The two-term Republican governor made the remarks at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office in Ocala in central Florida, where the latest round of bonuses were disbursed. According to state officials, 660 bonuses have been provided to law enforcement recruits statewide.
“The recruitment bonuses that my deputies will receive aren’t just a check, but a statement,” Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said at the news conference. “It tells the men and women in uniform that their choice to serve and protect matters. That commitment and sacrifice are seen and valued by the highest leadership in this state.”
Woods also said he’s sent a recruiter to New York to hire new deputies with the bonuses providing a powerful incentive.
“I had him plant a flag right there, on their front door steps and said ‘hire them as they walk out the door,'” Woods said.
The $53 million program provides a one-time, $5,000 bonus after taxes to newly employed officers that choose to practice law enforcement in Florida. According to state officials, 1,700 officers from 49 states and two territories have relocated to the Sunshine State. Five hundred of them have come from California, Illinois and New York, states that DeSantis said are “anti-police.”
“We’re a law and order state, we’re going to support law enforcement people that wear the uniform,” DeSantis said. “We’re going to make sure our laws are enforced and we’re never going to let the inmates run the asylum in the state.
“But you have the backdrop for a number of years recently where other states and cities around the country were doing the opposite, they were blaming law enforcement, treating them poorly with lax laws that benefited repeat offenders. you saw their cities decay as a result of this. Prosecutors wouldn’t prosecute crimes and that’s created a situation that’s intolerable to a lot of people.”
