I wanted to make one last request for the citizens of Escambia County as to the decision to re-elect Sheriff David Morgan for a third term. I have many issues I am going to present over the next few days. I hope you bear with me in the explanation and totality of ALL the issues I put forth. Even if you disagree with any one of the points, please consider them all in consideration as to the job duties and responsibilities that come with being the head law enforcement officer in Escambia County.
- In Florida, the duties of Sheriff, as defined by the Florida Statutes are this:
The duties, as enumerated in Chapter 30 of the Florida Statutes, include:.
- Being conservator of the peace in its county.
- Suppressing tumults, riots, and unlawful assemblies in its county with force and strong hand when necessary.
- Apprehending, without warrant, any person disturbing the peace, and carrying that person before the proper judicial officer, that further proceedings may be had against him or her according to law.
Conserving the peace of the county is the primarily deficient role Morgan does not meet. Preserving the peace is, in essence, keeping–CONSERVING–the peace, safety and stability of the county. That means he is responsible for the overall safety of the county. He summarily denies this is his job duty. He claims if people raise their kids right, then the community would be safer. That is a cop out. He is the conservator of the county, as it may be and evolve. That means it is his job to preserve your safety and he is currently not fulfilling that duty and telling the community he will not be responsible for the actions within the community. His contention is that you, the citizens, have that responsibility. HE IS WRONG.
By his own declaration, he will not address the problems of crime.
Be pragmatic; if someone who worked for you failed to fulfill the duties as specified by their job, and who clearly and contemptuously tried to re-write their job description, would you keep them on?
Additionally, he has more legally sound complaints for civil rights violations, particularly from his deputies and administration. At least a dozen of these lawsuits cite, hostile work environment, sexual & gender discrimination, retaliation against the Sheriff and his close underlings. These deputies are being run off because they are on the wrong side of Morgan. Of the deputies who are suing, the majority are women.
Even if you dismiss the “sour grapes” argument for the employees suing the Sheriff, remember there are 116 lawsuits that have been filed against this Sheriff. 116 people with attorneys, roughly 200 members of your community who found sufficient evidence to bring court actions against your Sheriff. An example of what ALL the suits have in common is civil rights violations like this:
- Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had in place, a policy, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage of relying on its deputies completing Statements of Probable Cause without verifying the identity of the accused, either by actual witness identification, or use of either an actual lineup or a photographic lineup.
- Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had no policy, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage in place for verifying the name, social security number, drivers license number, address, phone number, age, date of birth or photograph of a suspect prior to including this infonnation in a probable cause statement or warrant request, or if such policies, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage were in place, Sheriff Morgan failed to insure that such policies, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage was being followed.
- Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had prior notice that his deputies were submitting erroneous probable cause statements and failed to take appropriate actions to correct these acts.
- Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, in failing to adopt and implement appropriate police procedures acted with deliberate indifference to Plaintiff, Hallam’s, Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure as guaranteed by the 4 and 14th Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America.
You may think the Sheriff is good guy and says all the right things, but that isn’t what his job is about. You can be a good guy but a bad leader. Yes, Morgan is charismatic, but he is problematic as a law enforcement officer. Maybe politics outside law enforcement is his calling because let’s look at his record and performance over the last 8 years:
- He fails to sufficiently keep the peace and safety of the community.
- He has lost more employees than any other Sheriff and he is being sued for mistreatment and civil rights violations from others ie he is a horrible boss.
IF SOMEONE FAILS TO DO THEIR JOB, THEY ARE A LIABILITY. SHERIFF MORGAN IS UNABLE TO FULFILL THE JOB HE IS ELECTED FOR BASED ON HIS RECORD AS SHERIFF.
MORGAN IS A POLITICIAN—NOT A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.
REMEMBER THE DISTINCTION.
