By Black Lives Matter Restoration Polk Inc.
Sheriff Grady Judd is a high-profile, beloved figure in Polk County, but his public persona and storytelling should not be mistaken for the day-to-day reality on our streets; he is not the person making arrests or interacting with residents face‑to‑face, and those deputies deserve the same scrutiny as anyone else.
Too many in our community have grown skeptical of deputies because of repeated allegations of misconduct and conflicting accounts between officers and the people they stop, and that skepticism is not limited to any one neighborhood or race—white residents report problems just as often, which makes this clearly an accountability issue, not a racial one.
We’ve been so normalized to the sheriff’s sideshow-style press and viral moments that transparency gets traded for entertainment, and a funny or dramatic narrative from the top does not equal the full truth.
The bystander video showing a deputy with a boot on a person’s neck for what appears to be an extended time raises urgent questions about protocol: it is not routine to keep someone prone and unsecured.
In contrast, they seem to be restrained or struggling, and when multiple deputies are present, they should be able to subdue someone without resorting to a foot on the neck.
Because so many interactions go unrecorded, incidents like this are too often overlooked or explained away; mandatory body and cruiser cameras would provide the objective record we need to evaluate tactics, enforce policy, and restore public trust.
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You have a lot of “new, young, inexperienced” deputies out there. Give them a break!! God Bless them, it’s a hard job.and you have to treat everyone like they are the “enemy” until you can get.them under control. Until the situation is calm. You have never walked in their footsteps or put your life at risk, especially on the times. And until you do, you really should have no say in the matter.
I suspect the deputies are fed up. You would be too.
I suspect the deputies are just as dirty and probably more dirty than the people they detain like this and that’s why they choose not to wear body cameras. Damn If only everyday people didn’t have cameras nobody would ever catch the dirty things they do on the daily basis. ACAB 1312
Good job deputy’s keep up the good work
There is a reason they have a problem with body cams … If they were transparent there wouldn’t be an issue with body cams. One would think that they would welcome body cams for their own safety, protection, and transparency as well as for others. Grady Judd however for whatever reason has rejected the subject.
Best Sheriff and Sheriff’s Department in the nation. We are very fortunate to have them.
I am not for police brutality. I need to make that clear. However, I’m also not on the side of anyone that is getting arrested in the first place. Yes, there will always, in every situation in life, be the case of mistaken identity, wrongful detainment, etc. but that’s not the norm. And when someone is resisting arrest, clearly this type of behavior-not respecting the law and the people who uphold it-is likely what got them to the point of arrest to begin with. So let’s not all dog pile on the cops immediately. If we are going to live by the laws of innocent until proven guilty with the alleged criminal, let’s not jump to conclusions that the officers intended to hurt the person while they were verbally and physically resisting, yes? Resisting arrest is a crime as well. There’s no reason to resist, any time, especially if you are innocent. If you are guilty and you know you’ve been caught, don’t be dumb and add more charges on yourself. The next issue I need to raise is the all too common “I can’t breathe” outcry. I’m a respiratory therapist so I can professionally speak to this. If you’re talking, you’re breathing. If you’re able to make any sort of vocal noise, you’re breathing. If you weren’t breathing, and truly had no oxygen circulating through your bloodstream feeding your organs, muscles, etc. you wouldn’t have the strength nor the sense of mind to verbalize such nonsense. The George Floyd days are over. If he hadn’t broken the law, including resisting arrest, this wouldn’t be a phrase as tired and untrue as it has been. Moral of the story? Don’t do stupid illegal things. But if you just can’t help yourself, you feel you’re the special person that rules don’t apply to, and the rest of us should just stand by and watch you hurt the system or your community-grow a spine and take responsibility for it, realize you’ve been caught, and allow them to do their job, which is to arrest you.