Florida's DeSantis says public safety is key to state's economic success

(The Center Square) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis highlighted Polk County's success in fighting crime on Wednesday.

DeSantis said that the crime rate in Florida has reached a 50-year low because the Sunshine State allows law enforcement officers to do their jobs and keep communities safe. He noted that because law and order are priorities, Florida is first in the nation for education and second for economy.

"You are not gonna have a strong economy, you're not gonna have strong education, if you do not have public safety," DeSantis said. "When you don't have public safety, everything else starts to fall apart. We've seen that happen in other parts of this country, where people have been elected, turned their back on law enforcement. Those results have been poor consistently."

In the summer of 2020, while other states were playing host to looters and rioters and defunding their police departments, DeSantis said Florida did the opposite and increased funding to law enforcement, including putting in legislation to prevent local governments from defunding police.

"We want to guarantee people are gonna have the resources they need in their local communities to keep the community safe," DeSantis said. "We also increased penalties for people who riot and loot and engage in mob violence. Most of these other places around the country at that time…were giving these people a slap on the wrist."

Florida has been actively recruiting law enforcement officers from other states. It offered $5,000 signing bonuses for every law enforcement officer who wanted to relocate to Florida and new recruits were also eligible for the bonuses. In addition, every law enforcement officer in Florida received a $1,000 bonus.

DeSantis said one of the biggest problems in every community in Florida is the fentanyl epidemic. DeSantis added lawmakers have worked hard on education, particularly in schools, as well as enacting the Coordinated Opioid Response Network, which helps people beat opioid addiction.

Florida law enforcement has been recently working together to get fentanyl off the streets and DeSantis said it was only possible because law enforcement agencies had the support they needed. Penalties for those caught trafficking fentanyl can include life imprisonment.

"We're gonna do all we can to protect the people of Florida, but particularly young people, our kids, our grandkids, from the scourge of the fentanyl epidemic," DeSantis said.