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Florida Gov.Ron DeSantisproudly championed a $13.5 million police relocation program — and according to a new report, it led to the state hiring a handful of police officers with violent records.
The program began in 2021 and was meant to incentivize law enforcement officers outside Florida to move to the state amid the COVID-19 pandemic, offering them bonuses of upwards of $5,000 to do so. In April, DeSantis announced thatat least 530 officershad relocated from other states and territories to Florida due to the program. More than 1,750 new recruits, he said, had received bonuses through the program.
New York Police Department Car.Mic/Flickr.com
The Daily Dot details the backgrounds of several of those officers, including one who allegedly plowed his car into Black Lives Matter protesters in New York City in July 2021, injuring a teen in the process. That officer was signed to a police department near Orlando just one year later, receiving a $6,693.44 bonus check.
Others, the Dot reports, had complaints against them that involved things like sexual extortion before making the move to Florida.
One of the officers, the Dot reports, was the subject of6 formal complaints comprising 9 accusations(including overuse of physical force) while working in New York, prior to making the move to Florida to join an agency there.
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source: people.com
