ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, pledged support of local law enforcement Friday at a gathering of national leaders of the Fraternal Order of Police in Atlantic Beach.
Wolf told the 2020 Fall National Board of Trustees/State Presidents’ meeting that President Donald Trump “has your back.”
“While rioters are trying to destroy federal property and cities across America, there are radicals calling to ’Defund the Police.’ As some of the nation’s top law enforcement leaders, you all know that these calls are beyond irresponsible, beyond reckless even. Calls to abandon our police only endangers lives” Wolf told the group.
Wolf singled out Portland, Seattle, Chicago, New York, Kenosha and others where “local leaders allow these rioters to run amuck. ... There is no Constitutional right to burn cities to the ground and assault the men and women of law enforcement.”
Wolf said several communities are seeing spikes in crime “the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades.” He did not mention that Jacksonville is on track to set a record high for shootings and homicides.
According to News4Jax records, 380 people have been shot in Jacksonville so far this year -- nearing the 389 people shot in all of 2019. There have been 124 homicides in Jacksonville already 2020 compared to 110 at this point last year -- which had the highest number of homicides in the 15 years News4Jax has kept its own records on violent crime in the city.
After Wolf spoke, Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry told the gathering at One Ocean Resort in Atlantic Beach, “There will be no defunding of police in the city on my watch.”
Sheriff Mike Williams told the leadership of the police union organization “we want to do what’s right for the men and women of our agency who are out there protecting and serving our community every single day.”
“We will always allow peaceful protest. We will protect people’s right to peaceful protest. We won’t let anybody infringe on that,” Williams said. “But as soon as you throw the first rock or light the first fires, it’s no longer a peaceful protest -- it’s a riot and we will respond accordingly.”
The Sheriff’s Office has requested and the mayor is supporting a $6 million increase the JSO budget, raising it to $481 million. City Council must approve that budget in the next few weeks as the fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
“I think there should be more scrutiny on the sheriff’s budget than what we’ve done in the past,” Councilman Garrett Dennis said Friday.
Community groups like the NAACP and the Northside Coalition are pressing the city to shift some law enforcement money to intervention and mental health services.