During a time when law enforcement officers have been under unprecedented scrutiny due to a wave of protests over police brutality, Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters sat down for an interview with FOX News host Brian Kilmeade and discussed how he has been able to govern as a conservative Republican in a big city.
Waters was elected by a fairly comfortable margin in the city of 954,000 and has described himself as an ‘old school policeman’.
Kilmeade: As a Republican, to win in the inner-city, it doesn’t happen that much. Why do you think you won in November?
Waters:I think people realize and recognize the experience, recognize I’m an old-school policeman. I believe in law enforcement. I believe in taking care of our people…and I think that’s a big reason. And that message resonated with people.
During the interview, Waters discussed his strategy to tackle gang violence in Jacksonville, saying that he has utilized enhanced enforcement and community outreach tactics.
Kilmeade: So, as you look at your main obstacle, the stats say it’s gang activity. How do you attack it?
Waters: So we built a program in Jacksonville called our Violence Reduction Strategy or program. And what we’ve done is we’ve created an outreach and support piece and an enforcement piece. And it’s targeted.
Its focus is mainly on the young men in our community that commit violent crime, and we track them, we watch their activity, we watch it in real time. We watch on social media. We do several different things to do to try to stop that and curtail that.
Waters recently won a significant victory for law and order in Jacksonville as the city arrested 19 gang members from the ‘Insane Gangster Disciples,’ which has been described as a major criminal organization in the city.
Murder investigation leads to arrests of 19 alleged Jacksonville gang members Sheriff TK Waters says this is a major step towards completely dismantling a gang called IGD ("Insane Ganger Disciples"). https://t.co/ejo3EFwprc
— Keitha Nelson (@KeithaNelsonFCN) April 11, 2023
Waters was quick to credit other officials in Jacksonville and the state who have been strong law enforcement partners.
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Kilmeade: I live in a city, New York City, where you have a DA that thinks criminal first. The quick thing is how do we get these criminals back out on the street or leave them there forever. Do you have support here from prosecutors and District Attorneys?
Waters: Melissa Nelson is our elected State Attorney. She’s amazing. Part of that program, I’ll tell you, she actually created what we call our Targeted Prosecution Unit. And the same individuals that we’re looking at on a day-to-day basis, that we track on a day-to-day basis, she has attorneys assigned to that unit to help us make connections with those guys.
Nelson has been recognized nationally for her role in reducing Jacksonville’s violent crime rates.
We've been saying it for years. Stopping policies like no cash bail, targeting/prosecuting/punishing criminals, and providing law enforcement resources will ✨DECREASE CRIME!✨
It's really that simple, people!
These woke DAs should take a lesson from Florida DA Melissa Nelson. pic.twitter.com/vL5Z21g6Xk
— NRA (@NRA) April 21, 2022
Sheriff Waters concluded his interview by painting an optimistic picture of race relations in the United States in a time when police have been at the center of the debate regarding the issue.
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Kilmeade: What should America know about the state of race relations today according to Sheriff Waters?
Waters: I think there are pockets where there are issues.I think racism is… it’s here, it’s real.… I wouldn’t deny that.
But it’s not a determining factor about who we are as a community, as a nation. I think, overall, we’re in a really good position. I think, if you really look at it, the fact that I’m elected is proof positive we can do anything. And our nation is in a good place.
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