Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a staunch defender of law enforcement, is making a tour around the country to meet and support law enforcement officers.
DeSantis will visit areas of New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, reportedly discussing his own efforts in Florida vis-à-vis law enforcement.
“It’s a law enforcement rally to send a message back to some of our elected officials that the laws that they have enacted in the state of New York are not working — specifically the bail reform laws — and it’s putting my members, detectives and cops in danger, as well as the public,” Paul DiGiacomo, president of New York City’s Detectives’ Endowment Association, said of Monday’s meeting in Staten Island. “It’s gone too far to the left over the last couple of years.”
“On Staten Island, we are proud to support our law enforcement,” Assemblyman Mike Tannousis, the Staten Island GOP chairman, stated. “I’m happy that our law enforcement community will get some recognition and support.”
At the end of 2022, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced the state’s crime rate fell 8% from 2021, reportedly the lowest crime rate in the state in 50 years.
DeSantis’ “Framework for Freedom Budget” includes salary increases for a variety of law enforcement personnel, as it states:
$107.2 million to increase the Department of Corrections’ (FDC) base rate of pay to $23 per hour for specified Correctional Officer, Correctional Probation Officer, and Inspector positions;
$1.8 million to provide a four percent increase to Special Agents and Law Enforcement positions within the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE);
$6.8 million for special pay adjustments based on salary ranges for all sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, Department of Legal Affairs (DLA), State Attorneys, and State Courts (SCS); and
$8.5 million for an increase for years of service for sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, DLA, State Attorneys, and SCS.
$30 million for a second round of recruitment bonus payments for law enforcement officers who are new to the profession in the state, including those relocating from other states. This initiative will provide bonus payments of $5,000 to new eligible law enforcement officers.
“What Florida has done is establish a blueprint for governance that has produced tangible results while serving as a rebuke to the entrenched elites who have driven our nation into the ground. Florida is proof positive that we, the people are not powerless in the face of these elites,” DeSantis has written.