Well-known to be a strong defender of law enforcement, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis is now kicking off a country-wide tour in order to both meet and support law enforcement officers.
DeSantis is slated to pay visits to areas of New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, reportedly speaking to them about his own efforts and initiatives in Florida when it comes to law enforcement.
“It’s a law enforcement rally to send a message back to some of our elected officials that the laws that they have enacted in the state of New York are not working — specifically the bail reform laws — and it’s putting my members, detectives and cops in danger, as well as the public,” stated the president of New York City’s Detectives’ Endowment Association Paul DiGiacomo about Monday’s meeting held in Staten Island. “It’s gone too far to the left over the last couple of years.”
“On Staten Island, we are proud to support our law enforcement,” explained Assemblyman Mike Tannousis, the GOP chairman for Staten Island. “I’m happy that our law enforcement community will get some recognition and support.”
Near the end of last year, the Department of Law Enforcement for the state of Florida released a statement that announced that the crime rate for the state dropped by close to 8% from where it was perched in 2021, reaching what is the lowest crime rate for the whole state in close to five decades.
DeSantis’ “Framework for Freedom Budget” encompasses a few things such as increases to the salary for a large variety of law enforcement personnel, as it says:
$107.2 million to increase the Department of Corrections’ (FDC) base rate of pay to $23 per hour for specified Correctional Officer, Correctional Probation Officer, and Inspector positions;
$1.8 million to provide a four percent increase to Special Agents and Law Enforcement positions within the Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE);
$6.8 million for special pay adjustments based on salary ranges for all sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, Department of Legal Affairs (DLA), State Attorneys, and State Courts (SCS); and
$8.5 million for an increase for years of service for sworn law enforcement officers within FDLE, DLA, State Attorneys, and SCS.
$30 million for a second round of recruitment bonus payments for law enforcement officers who are new to the profession in the state, including those relocating from other states. This initiative will provide bonus payments of $5,000 to new eligible law enforcement officers.
“What Florida has done is establish a blueprint for governance that has produced tangible results while serving as a rebuke to the entrenched elites who have driven our nation into the ground. Florida is proof positive that we, the people are not powerless in the face of these elites,” explained DeSantis.
