PASCO COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is defending its controversial intelligence-led policing program. Critics said the program profiles people who might be likely to commit a crime, even if no crime has been committed.
The Sheriff’s Office denies those claims and defends the program, though it’s currently facing several legal challenges. A federal judge is expected to make a decision in the next couple of months.
The Sheriff’s Office said it’s never engaged in predictive policing, however, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit said he was arrested six times but never charged with a crime.
“There were numbers on my house that I was renting, but there was a motion sensor light above it, and because you would walk up to it the motion sensor light would come on and they called that my numbers not being visible from the street and they arrested me for that they took me to jail,” said Robert Jones.
Jones said it all began in 2015, when his family moved to Pasco County.
“They’re not just arresting people, they’re targeting people,” he said. “They were doing anything they could to take me to jail.”
Jones said he was “harassed” by the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office and Sheriff Chris Nocco.
“I served six different times in jail, all ordinance violations,” said Jones.
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