Rural Florida Agricultural LEOs

Rural counties in Florida are beginning to designate officers to the specific task of investigating agricultural and natural resource crimes. These areas require a different type of specialization to deal with the unique types of crime that occur. Recently after a dog fighting ring was discovered in the woods, the Putnam County Sheriff realized what needed to be done. “What we realized was that as an agency, we were very ill-equipped to handle a case like that. For me as sheriff, I saw this as an opportunity for us to improve the way we do business and adopt a set of best practices for dog-fighting cases,” Sheriff Homer “Gator” DeLoach said. This resulted in special training for various Putnam officers. Numerous other counties have followed suit as unconventional crimes, ranging from theft of crops to animal neglect, find there way onto the desks of investigators.

For more information, see:

• Teresa Stepzinski, The St. Augustine Record, “Northeast Florida’s farm cops field specialized cases,” Sep. 28, 2017, http://staugustine.com/local-news/news/2017-09-28/northeast-florida-s-farm-cops-field-specialized-cases-0

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