{"id":63201,"date":"2026-03-01T18:17:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63201"},"modified":"2026-03-01T18:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T23:18:04","slug":"the-criticism-surrounding-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-regarding-protests-in-minnesota","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/01\/the-criticism-surrounding-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-regarding-protests-in-minnesota\/","title":{"rendered":"The criticism surrounding Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd regarding protests in Minnesota"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The criticism surrounding Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd regarding protests in Minnesota\u2014specifically following the 2020 death of George Floyd and more recent incidents in 2025\/2026\u2014typically centers on the contrast between his colorful rhetoric and his stance on law enforcement accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Judd is a master of the “soundbite,” often using props and high-energy press conferences to project a “tough on crime” image. However, critics frequently point to several areas where they see hyperbole or hypocrisy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The “Blow Them Out of the House” Rhetoric<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

During the 2020 unrest, Judd gained national attention for telling residents to shoot anyone trying to loot their homes:<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“If you try to break into their homes to steal, to set fires, I\u2019m highly recommending they blow you back out of the house with their guns.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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  • The Hyperbole:<\/strong> Critics argued this was inflammatory and encouraged vigilante justice over a perceived threat that hadn’t actually materialized in Polk County at the time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The Hypocrisy Argument:<\/strong> While Judd condemned the Minneapolis officer’s actions against George Floyd, critics argued that his own rhetoric devalued life by suggesting that property theft (a crime) should be met with immediate lethal force by civilians, bypassing the judicial system he claims to uphold.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    2. Defending Law Enforcement in “Deadly Weapon” Cases<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    More recently, Judd weighed in on a shooting in Minneapolis involving an ICE agent (January 2026).<\/sup> He characterized the driver as using a vehicle as a “two-ton deadly weapon” and called the shooting justified self-defense, sharply contradicting Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey\u2019s assessment that the action was “reckless.”<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • The Tension:<\/strong> Critics suggest Judd\u2019s “hypocrisy” lies in his willingness to judge incidents thousands of miles away based on limited video, while often demanding that people “wait for the facts” when his own deputies are under scrutiny.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      3. “Peaceful” vs. “Riot” Branding<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Judd is famous for using posters during press conferences to “teach” the difference between a peaceful protest and a riot.<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      • The Critique:<\/strong> Opponents argue this is a false binary used to delegitimize systemic grievances. By focusing heavily on the “looting” and “violence” aspects of the Minnesota protests, critics say he minimizes the underlying issues of police brutality that sparked the demonstrations in the first place.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The criticism surrounding Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd regarding protests in Minnesota\u2014specifically following the 2020 death of George Floyd and more recent incidents in 2025\/2026\u2014typically centers on the contrast between… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2ltYWdlcy0yLndlYnA_Zml0PTI1MCUyQzIwMCZzc2w9MSIsInR4dCI6IlRoZSBjcml0aWNpc20gc3Vycm91bmRpbmcgUG9sayBDb3VudHkgU2hlcmlmZiBHcmFkeSBKdWRkIHJlZ2FyZGluZyBwcm90ZXN0cyBpbiBNaW5uZXNvdGEiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.9Qwsc9z0oyglJySN4sCjw4Xr3pYZQQuwUJzWCLfxQDgMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[13861],"class_list":["post-63201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-the-criticism-surrounding-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-regarding-protests-in-minnesota"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63201"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63203,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63201\/revisions\/63203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}