“We are a law-and-order state”

Gov. Ron DeSantis holds press conference at Marion County Sheriff’s Office on April 2, 2025. [Jennifer Hunt Murty/Ocala Gazette]

Gov. Ron DeSantis held a press conference at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on April 2 to hand out recruitment bonuses to new deputies.

“We are a law-and-order state,” the governor said of Florida, pointing to strong laws that protect law enforcement and make it harder for people to disrupt Florida communities.

The governor claims that, as a result, Florida crime is down, but as previously reported, there is no way to independently fact-check the claim due to changes in reporting crime data across the country.

Additionally, the governor noted that the financial incentives have helped them recruit law enforcement officers from other states.

The Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment Program, launched in 2022, provides a one-time $5,000 bonus—after taxes—to newly employed officers “as a show of appreciation and incentive for choosing to serve in Florida,” said the governor.

According to a media statement issued by the governor’s office, “more than 1,700 law enforcement officers from 49 other states and two territories have relocated to Florida, with more than 500 coming from anti-police states like California, Illinois, and New York. Each of the 7,800 newly recruited officers has received a $5,000 bonus after taxes, with the program distributing more than $53 million to date.”

The “Gazette” asked the governor during the press conference if the state had plans to provide solutions to address the mentally ill, whom law enforcement must encounter regularly without sufficient resources.

The governor indicated that his office on April 1 expanded the HOPE Florida program, to provide support, with each sheriff’s office now being assigned a HOPE Florida liaison in each respective office. The initiative by First Lady Casey DeSantis was initially put in place to help children, and is being expanded according to the governor.

“Just simply having a government program and having a bureaucrat find a program for people to get on and stay on is not expanding that person’s horizons,that’s not helping them achieve a pathway of self-sufficiency,” he said.

“Her insight was that’s more of a great society war on poverty, LGB, left approach. Our approach needs to embrace the faith community, embrace our charities, embrace businesses that want to be philanthropic, embrace individuals who want to lend a helping hand in their community,” the governor said.

“So she created Hope Florida to transform those bureaucrats into navigators, so when someone comes in need, their job is not to try to get on a government program, but to navigate them to all the resources that are already available in their community,” he stated.

“We’ve got all these churches that are connected, we’ve got synagogues and charities that are part of Hope Florida network. People’s needs can be put into a portal and then it goes out to all these great stakeholders in the community. And guess what? If someone is in need and a church answers the call,the chance is that person is going to have stability and a pathway to be productive more than just dealing with a bureaucrat,” said the governor.

The governor claimed that Hope Florida has already helped 30,000 people get off welfare and saved the state $100 million dollars.

The governor feels like law enforcement can funnel the public to HOPE Florida to find help when they cross paths.

“Now, not every county in Florida has the same amount of resources in terms of what churches are offering, or private organizations, but we have a lot, a lot to offer in the state of Florida,” the governor said without providing any explanation of how those needs would be met.

Besides providing a hub for the public to find resources, the governor acknowledged, “And of course we want to save taxpayer money, but more importantly, those other ways [faith based] are more likely to work and help people.”

The “Gazette” was not allowed to ask follow-up questions about how churches and nonprofits would be able to address the needs of individuals who had become a danger to themselves and law enforcement due to a lack of treatment.

For more information about the Florida Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment, visit floridajobs.org/recognition-and-recruitment