Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's law enforcement relocation scheme, backed by a $13.5 million fund, has been attracting police officers with records of excessive force or criminal charges ranging from abduction to homicide, according to an analysis of state records.
DeSantis, who is anticipated to announce his candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination soon, has to date funneled over $13.5 million into the recruitment bonus initiative. This program was promoted in 2021 as a lure for out-of-state officers frustrated by mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.
"Our program will significantly contribute to attracting the highest-caliber individuals to fill our law enforcement positions," stated Ashley Moody, Florida’s Republican attorney general, in April of the previous year, when DeSantis disclosed the $5,000 one-time bonuses for new recruits.
Nevertheless, a substantial number of nearly 600 officers who relocated to Florida and received the bonus, or were recruited within the state, already had a host of complaints against them or have since been slapped with criminal charges, as uncovered by the digital media platform Daily Dot.
Among these officers are a former trainee deputy from the Escambia county sheriff’s office facing charges for her husband's murder; a Miramar police department officer discharged due to domestic battery and kidnapping; and an ex-New York police department (NYPD) officer, now hired by the Palm Beach police department, previously accused of inappropriate sexual advances.
The Daily Dot identified this officer as Daniel Meblin, who was involved in a $160,000 NYPD settlement over violent acts at a 2020 demonstration protesting the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, where officers were alleged to have assaulted Black males without provocation.
A spokesperson for the Palm Beach police department told the Daily Dot that Meblin, who had complaints against him including abuse of authority and sexually propositioning a minor, had been forthright about his past during the hiring process, according to NYPD watchdog 50-a.org.
Since his hiring in October 2022, the same month he departed the NYPD, he has been an "outstanding" officer, said the spokesperson, while denying a request for an interview with Meblin.
The Daily Dot derived its report from state documents obtained from the Florida department of economic opportunity through a Freedom of Information Act request. The document, without a date, records more than $8.8 million in payments dispersed among 1,310 newly hired officers, the majority of whom received $6,693.44 from signing and additional bonuses.
DeSantis, in a press release issued earlier this month, disclosed that the program has since expanded to over 2,000 officers, with a corresponding increase in costs to more than $13.5 million.
"To date, 595 law enforcement recruits from 49 states and US territories have relocated to Florida, including over 215 recruits from California, Texas, New York, and Pennsylvania," the statement read.
For its investigation, the Daily Dot cross-referenced information from the 50-a and NYPD databases, along with publicly available media reports, with the officers' names listed by the state.
The outlet reported a surge of officers leaving NYPD for Florida law enforcement agencies following a backlash against NYPD's harsh response to racial justice protests in 2020, triggered by the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.
Among the defectors were at least two dozen officers identified in the NYPD's civilian complaint review board database. According to the complaints, these officers were accused of unlawfully pepper spraying, assaulting, and brandishing firearms at suspects, as well as using chokeholds and racial and ethnic slurs.
A 2018 civil rights lawsuit against former NYPD sergeant Haitham Hussameldin claimed the officer used physical force against a teenage girl on her way to school. The Daily Dot reported that Hussameldin, now a member of Florida’s Manapalan police department, amassed six formal complaints, including "multiple accusations of authority abuse and excessive use of physical force" in New York. All the complaints were either withdrawn or unsubstantiated.
Another former New York officer now serving in Florida was implicated in two fatalities, one of which resulted in a $100,000 civil settlement, according to the Daily Dot. In October 2022, the Apopka police department enlisted Justin Burgos, 19, the son of a retired NYPD deputy inspector, who was previously charged with reckless endangerment, reckless driving, and obstruction of governmental administration after driving his car into protesters in Manhattan demanding the dismissal of an officer accused of assaulting a Black suspect.