At The Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce monthly meeting, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco talked about a wide range of law enforcement issues.
He touched on many topics, including drug-related offenses, human trafficking, and the rise of officer-involved shootings nationwide.
(Kevin Weiss/Staff Photo)
Addressing a crowd of about 100, the sheriff said “shake-and-bake” meth and prescription drug usage continue to be a pervasive problem countywide, ultimately leading to a sizable percentage of the county’s burglaries.
Last year, nearly 2,400 burglaries were reported in Pasco County, according to the Federal Department of Law Enforcement.
“That’s the driver of crime in our community — the addiction issue,” Nocco said, at the Aug. 4 breakfast meeting.
“All the burglaries, that’s what really is hurting us right now — people breaking in because of their addictions.
“That is a major disease that law enforcement can’t fight by itself,” Nocco added.
Though he declined to provide many details due to active investigations, the sheriff noted the fight against human trafficking is “going very well.”
“In the next couple of weeks, you’ll hear about some cases we’re working on,” he said. “We’re just working with the State’s Attorney Office to make sure we’ve got a prosecution.”
In May, Pasco sheriff’s deputies busted a New Port Richey human trafficking ring that targeted women in strip clubs along U.S. 19.
Curbing those instances of illegal activity, Nocco said, starts with residents reporting suspicious behavior.
“We need your help in fighting human trafficking,” he said. “The places you’re going to see that is in smaller restaurants, nail salons and massage parlors; if you see a massage parlor with lights on at 12 o’clock at night, something’s not right.”
He continued: “We go to Dade City a lot because of the migrant population and the fields, where a lot of horrific things happen.”
Throughout the meeting, Nocco spent time discussing the recent attacks on law enforcement officers nationwide.
“The stress of our families right now is tremendous,” Nocco said. “We’re in the uniform and we feel the stress, but at the same time…our spouses and our children are living through a time right now that they’ve never really had to live through before.”
As of July 20, there’s been a 78 percent spike in firearms-related officer fatalities, according to a report by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
Thirty-two officers have died in firearms-related incidents so far this year, including 14 that were ambush-style attacks, the report shows. During the same period last year, 18 officers were shot and killed in the line of duty, including three that were considered ambush-style attacks.
“As we talk about these shootings, one of the things…that’s a bigger issue in my eyes is the sovereign citizens movement,” Nocco said. “It was not just about anti-law enforcement, but it was about anti-government. Law enforcement — we’re the forefront of government, we’re the symbol of government and everything that’s happening, we’re just the tip of the iceberg.”
Sovereigns reportedly believe that they get to decide which laws to obey and which to ignore, and don’t think they should have to pay taxes.
A 2011 FBI bulletin called the sovereign citizens movement “a growing domestic threat to law enforcement.”
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the sovereign citizens movement totals about 300,000 members and “has been growing at a fast pace since the late 2000s.”
The 29-year-old gunman who killed three Baton Rouge police officers in an ambush-style attack on July 17 was later found to be a member of an anti-government sovereign citizens group, multiple news outlets reported.
“Sovereign citizens — that is an alarming sound,” Nocco said, “because they have killed law enforcement officers across the country; we actually had a sovereign citizen in Spring Hill who had 14 AK-47s and was ready for a shootout with law enforcement.”
The increasingly risky climate of working in law enforcement has altered the handling of response procedures within the department, the sheriff said.
“We do not have enough deputies to put two in a car, but when we’re responding to a call, we’re sending two deputies,” Nocco said. “And, that could be anything — it could be a shoplifter at a convenience store, but now we’re sending two (deputies) because you never know what the call may be.”
Published August 10, 2016
