“We’re coming after you. That’s right, you,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “You’re not gonna shoot up our community.”
Lakeland NCAA President Terry Coney said he supports the idea, to a point.
“When you talk about the task force, it has to be an inclusive task force,” Coney said. “And when I say inclusive, it has tone a combination of all stakeholders.”
Coney says the city once had its own gang task force, but it was repurposed into a community engagement task force a couple of years ago when gang violence declined.
He believes any new task force has to do more than just solve crimes and jail criminals.
“It just can’t be round up all the bad guys and the problem is solved because it’s not. You’ve got to reach out to younger kids to show them a better way,” he said.