Tag: law enforcement

On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis joined Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces to present them one-time relief checks beginning to be distributed through the ‘Florida’s Heroes’ initiative. This initiative is an opportunity to recognize law...

Similar to the VA Home Loan Program, the HELPER Act eliminates the requirements for a down payment and a monthly mortgage insurance premium (MIP),” Rutherford’s office noted. 

In recent years, Rutherford, the former sheriff of Duval County, has been championing the “Protect and Serve Act” with U.S. Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., as the main cosponsor. According to Rutherford’s office, the bill “would create federal penalties for individuals who deliberately target local, state, or federal law enforcement officers with violence.”

Violent attacks against law enforcement officers are on the rise. So far this year, 11 Florida law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty compared to two line-of-duty deaths during the same time period last year. More than half of the deaths are attributed to violent attacks on officers.

Rutherford and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-NJ, will lead the group which was originally formed in 1994. According to Rutherford’s office, the caucus will “serve as a clearinghouse for information and grants, and a sounding board for ideas addressing the law enforcement community.”

During January and February of 2020, two Florida officers lost their lives. During the same time period this year, seven officers were killed—two by gunfire; two by vehicular assault; one in a patrol car accident; and two after contracting COVID-19.

Ben Frazier, the president of the Jacksonville Northside Coalition, said there was a difference in how BLM protesters and the pro-Trump mob were treated by police. Five people, including a police officer, were killed in last week’s violence.