August 2024. Blues Vol 40 No.8

ual.” He then added

ual.” He then added that there was one other thing that should be blamed for the tragedy. Judges, and prosecutors, and other officials in the criminal justice system had been letting Kendra Boone skate on numerous charges for decades. The sheriff opened up a printout that I estimate to be about 20 feet long and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is her criminal history.” Her lifetime rap sheet includes 13 felonies and nine misdemeanors, Woods explained. He added that she had been convicted on two of the misdemeanors. One of the convictions was in Marion County in 2022. Boone was supposed to still be in prison on that conviction and on a probation violation in Orange County at the time of the crash,” Woods said. “If this person would have been in jail, I would not have two dead innocent people…If you want to fix our problem in society then hold people accountable.” The misdemeanor charge that should have kept Boone off the streets: fleeing and eluding. Asked to give more details about Boone’s criminal history, Woods reeled off some locations for the arrests, but quickly let the press know he was not blaming fellow officers. “Law enforcement did their job in those [cases]. Law enforcement obviously made their charges. Somewhere else there’s a breakdown.” This press conference made Woods my second favorite sheriff. Number one remains Grady Judd of Polk County, Florida. In 2006 Judd answered questions of why his SWAT team shot a suspected deputy killer 68 times and fired 110 rounds at the man with the following statement. “I suspect the only reason 110 rounds was all that was fired was that’s all the ammunition they had,” Judd said. “We were not going to take any chance of him shooting back.” Judd is the epitome of a straight-talking sheriff, and most of the people of Polk County love him. He has won five terms since 2004 and is running again in 2024. Almost all of his opponents have been write-ins. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office even sells Sheriff (Judd)-on-a- Shelf dolls at Christmas. They sell out very quickly, and the proceeds go to charity. Florida does not have a monopoly on straight-talking sheriffs. There are many others in other states. Sadly, I don’t have space to tell you the great things they have said. What I do have room to say is that we need more of them. The men and women who serve as sheriffs in counties where they are politically safe are some of the last truth tellers in America. They will absolutely speak up and explain what is really going on in law enforcement to the public. And we need them to tell that truth more today than ever. 16 The Blues - August ‘24

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