Sheriff`s Corner

Hi everyone and welcome to this week's Sheriff's Corner. The first thing on this week's agenda is to remind you of approaching hurricane Frances. The reason is to try to alert you sooner to the potential of very serious winds and rain that could accompany Frances. At this time the path is uncertain but shows that the storm could hit anything from Cuba to Jacksonville.

So what do we do. Well we think about our safety measurers. What to stock up on and where will we go if we are forced to evacuate. As we reported after Charley, we were fortunate. We were prepared as much as possible but we have also seen what a major hurricane can do. So, think about Frances, make some plans and we here at the Sheriff's Office and Emergency Operations Center will keep you informed.

Second, I'd like to briefly talk to you about some of the mandatory minimum prison sentences that are in effect in Florida. These sentence enhancements were designed as a deterrent to violent crimes and drug trafficking and specifically addresses sentencing for crimes when a gun is used or when we are dealing with a person who has been convicted of three violent felonies. The area we are seeing most often has to do with people who continue to commit felonies. In this area the offender gets three years for possession of a firearm if he is a convicted felon. If they have been convicted of two charges such as arson, sexual battery, robbery, aggravated child abuse, aggravated battery, armed burglary, aggravated stalking, aggravated adult or elderly abuse and commits another violent felony within five years from the last conviction they will receive a mandatory sentence of 5 – 15 –20 years or life depending on the degree of the felony. Florida is taking a firmer stand on repeat offenders. Take care.