'We knew the numbers were bad': Law enforcement staff raised concerns about Ron DeSantis' top crime talking point
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
T ALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s top law enforcement officials were repeatedly warned by their own staff that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim that the state’s crime rate is at a 50-year low — a message he often uses as part of his presidential campaign — was based on incomplete data that makes the accuracy of the claim impossible to verify.
Despite those warnings, DeSantis continued to promote the numbers on the campaign trail, three former officials with Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) familiar with the matter told NBC News.
“The ethics of what we were reporting, we knew the numbers were bad,” a former FDLE employee told NBC News. “We foot-stomped it to leadership over and over again; they did not care. They did not care.”
“We were soldiers, though,” the person said, adding that the department's bosses asked staff members to produce numbers even though the staff members had doubts about them — still, “we did it.”
Each of the former FLDE employees said there was a pervasive sense among agency staff that the numbers needed to say what their leadership wanted — and that those demands were coming from the governor’s office for political reasons.
NBC News granted all three anonymity to speak freely due to concerns about professional retribution
“The numbers gave the governor and the [executive office of governor] what they wanted,” one of the former FDLE staffers said. “They were looking for a particular narrative.”
Link to original article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/we-knew-the-numbers-were-bad-law-enforcement-staff-raised-concerns-about-ron-desantis-top-crime-talking-point/ar-AA1h0R9Z?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=5e261f62b600449b93b0602a8c2b96ec&ei=12
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Ron DeSantis will surly get called out on this information.
Additionally, crime stats for Florida leave out half the population of the state.
Lying works like a charm for Trump; no doubt DeSantis believed he could get a way with a bit of lying too.
Probably so, T,G and it might be catching up with him when he dropped from second in the latest NH poll to fifth. Moving from 23% down to 10%.
I could never warm up to DeSantis. He is too authoritarian, is alienating those left of center (stupid strategy if one wants to win in the general), and seems to be vindictive (or maybe just likes to show power). Regardless, not all that impressive (to me) as a candidate for president.
Haley and Christie seem, to me, to be the best of those running for the GOP nomination. One can only hope that Trump somehow self-destructs and leaves the field clear for serious candidates to compete for the nomination.
his house is burning down while he's inside of it denying reality and hoping to be the default candidate, like 75% of the other rwnj losers in the race.
He is very authoritarian and recently has been called out on it by other Florida republicans and most recently he has been criticized for his ongoing war with Disney which it seems has become nothing more than a personal vendetta for DeSanits.
Sadly, I believe that Trump will be the nominee for the Republican party. Not a good thing at all.
Hoping to be the default candidate isn't a good look nor, IMO will it get him anywhere near being the Republican presidential candidate.
He might just have to be satisfied with being your governor.
For another three years, then goodbye.