Florida Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd

Florida Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd
By The Blue Magazine Team
Catherine Angel, Shai Carr, Raytheon Martin

Blue Magazine recently traveled to Polk County, Florida to sit down with Sheriff Judd--a no-nonsense law enforcement leader whose directness and honesty is breath of fresh air during these troubling times. In this exclusive and uncensored interview, Sheriff Judd calls it as he sees it, and holds no punches as we discuss many of the controversial current topics affecting law enforcement. Blue Magazine thanks Sheriff Judd and the outstanding officers of the Polk County Sheriff's Department.

The BLUE Magazine: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Sheriff Grady Judd: Well, I can start out by saying I was born a long time ago. What you see is what you get. I'm the same on television as I am in the office, as I am at home. You see, I found out if you just tell the truth all the time, you don't have to remember lies. And I've also found out that the community loves transparency, and they love people that will stand up and just tell the truth. They may not always agree with me. Heck, I make policy and procedures that I don't even agree with. But after all, this is not about me. It's about the best interests of the community and how we can keep them safe and how we can help them. So, it's an honor to be the sheriff. It's a lifelong dream since I was a little bitty dude. All I ever wanted to do was work for the sheriff's office. I was the first deputy under the age of 21 and the youngest person to ever be sworn in as a deputy.

I married my wife when I was 18 and we raised two wonderful kids and I went to college nights and taught weekend--23 at both the University of South Florida and Florida Southern. And then my boss, Sheriff Crowe, retired and I ran for sheriff, and the people of this community were gracious enough to let me serve them.

In this current anti-police environment that we have now, have you seen any change with your recruitment with your officers?

Sure. I think it's important to point out why we've had an anti-police environment. I call it the hate on the police or the defund the police that you've seen all around the nation. None of that ever came to our community. And for those of you who aren't from here, our county's 2,000 square miles. And we have about 750,000 residents. And while we saw this being perpetrated upon us and upon all the people of this country--that wasn't this community--that wasn't most communities across this nation. So, at the end of the day, why we saw people that weren't peaceful, protesting, throwing rocks and bottles and burning and looting, the opposite occurred here.

If you were in a position up north, how would you handle the situation?

Well, here's the problem with the police chiefs. They're great men and women who have dedicated their lives to this career, but they're surrounded by a political environment. They are either appointed by a mayor who got elected, or they may be appointed by a city manager who works for an elected body. So, they are government employees hired to enforce the law or the rules, OK? They're hired. Follow what I say. So their government's answer to law enforcement in Florida, I'm elected by the people. I am the people's representative to enforce the law. I don't work for a county commission. I don't work for a mayor. I don't work for city commissioners.

But as a chief in that appointed position in those environments, I can stand up and talk until the mayor fires me. But I can't make any meaningful changes.

In some states, we are seeing a lot of officers lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 mandates, not complying. What are your thoughts? Would you fire an officer in your department if they don't comply?

I want to underscore COVID is real and it's dangerous and it's deadly. But a lot of this world's gone nuts over that. And here's what we did here at the sheriff's office and by and large, throughout Florida, while the world was all hunkered down behind masks and then double masks, and then staying home and drawing your kids out of school and all this craziness that occurred. We took a common-sense approach. I said, look, when the vaccine becomes available because I talked to my doctor and he said, take it, I've got a lot of friends that are physicians, and I ask every one of them, “What do you think?” Every one of them said unequivocally to take the vaccine. And I did and I took the next vaccine, and I took the booster. I recommend you take the COVID shot. But let me make one thing abundantly clear. That's your personal health decision, not mine. From day one, long before there was a COVID shot, I will never impose a requirement on you to take this shot. Never. We're not mandating. I encourage it. I educate. It's their decision. It's their life.

What is your message to law enforcement leaders today who are firing officers because of these mandates?

I would resign from office as the chief before I mandated people do things that were against my ethics, my morals and my values.

In the past, we have seen law enforcement leaders kneel to appease these special interest groups. Would you be one to kneel?

No, I'm not kneeling. I kneel in front of the altar for my Jesus and my God. And that's the only person I kneel for. I am going to work for and with the communities and ensure that there's fairness and there's equality and there's opportunity and I'm going to do what's right. But you write this down in your little book. You won't see me kneeling for a social group.

What is your biggest barrier or obstacle on fighting crime?

Well, I don't have a big barrier or obstacle for fighting crime. You know, I'll wake up every day. Well, I guess I do have one. There's only 24hours in a day, and that's the only thing that limits us. We certainly fight crime. Our crime rate here is at a 50-year low.

At the end of the day, if you have the right systems and processes in place and you're appropriately funded with the equipment, you can respond and should respond. And I'll go back to my board of county commissioners. They have never, never underscore, never refused us equipment or technology training. Resources. To find what we needed to protect this community.

So, what would you say to the defund the police people?

Well, I would first tell them, let's do some scientific study about defund the police. Then I would look at the defund the police people and say, you're nuts.

Some say your aggressiveness or proactive methods on crime may be unfair to minorities. Others say your direct no-nonsense approach is best suited to protect the citizens. What's your message to both arguments?

Yeah, I can tell you clearly and unequivocally that my African American community looks at me and says, we want more resources, sheriff. We don't want less. I can tell you I don't put up with anything other than treating people equitably and fairly. You know, we're all God's children and to allow children to kill children night after night in these big cities is shameful. But if the cops don't have the infrastructure in place to support them, what can they do?

We as active law enforcement look to our leaders for guidance and support many times throughout our career. In your words, how are you there for your officers?

I'm a street cop at heart. When you go into my office and you look behind my desk, you see a star in a shadow box. It's called First Badge. It says Deputy Sheriff Polk County. I'm a street cop. I recruit the best, I hire the best, and I trained the best. I hold them to the highest standards, and I got their back. Now if they run out here off the edge of the mountain, that's on them. But if they're following the rules and they're following the laws, it doesn't make any difference what other people think. I always have their back. I always support them. Now, if you go out here and get stupid, you know, I'm going to arrest you and put you in jail.

And I've done that. But the reality of it is if you don't support the men and women who do this job, you shouldn't be a police leader--you should get out, get out right now and let somebody if they'll appoint somebody that can defend the police officers, why they're doing their job the appropriate way. What fuels me every day is not sitting behind a desk, looking at spreadsheets. It's being out there with the people and the deputies. I love them. My mom and my dad passed. I got a sister that I loved to the ends of the earth. I got a wife who why she stays with me, I don't know. But there's nobody better in the world. I got two boys. I got 13 grandkids. And after that, after that handful, I love these deputies, like they're my own children. And I can say that at my age, I used to be the youngest guy here. I'm the oldest guy here, but I look at them through the lenses of when I was their age doing this dangerous job. How did I want to be treated? How did I want to be supported? And I wasn't all the time because some people were more concerned at different times of their politics instead of doing what's right. But it's easy for me because I love these people. They're my family. And when I go to a scene, I don't run to the supervisors. I can talk to them anytime I want to go see my deputies.

Your marriage has been pretty much parallel to your career, so how do you keep it going so long?

She gets all the credit. This, you know, I asked my oldest son, who I thought had a great personality and disposition to be in law enforcement, why he never wanted to be in law enforcement. Neither my children are in law enforcement. My son said he didn’t like that when he woke up in the morning, I was gone. And when he went to bed at night, I was gone a lot of days. And he never wanted a job like that. So, my wife is really the fiber of our family. She is a strong Christian woman. She is just wicked smart. I'm married way up and she is supportive of me. Why in the world she picked me or stayed with me? I don't know. But she's the best.

There's a serious issue with law enforcement today where some officers use prescription medication to manage pain. Because of this, many develop addiction to these drugs. How will your department handle this if one of your officers falls victim to addiction?

That depends. I'll give you two episodes. If we have a law enforcement officer that has an emotional issue or a health issue and that falls under health issue, we have infrastructure in place, everything from EAP to medicine to our medical systems, and we certainly look through all of that and work with that and help them. And it's all confidential. It doesn't even come to my attention. Let me give you another example, about eight or 10 years ago, one of our deputies became hooked on OxyContin and we got a call here the admin office one day and a gentleman said, you know, I really don't mind your deputy coming by. And he comes back, you know, every two or three weeks to count my OxyContin, my pain management, he said. But could you ask him not to come by at 11 o'clock at night? What the heck? Well, it turns out he was stealing the guy's medicine. Well, we fired him and put him in jail, which is what we should have done. So, if someone needs help, we make sure that they get it and the infrastructure is in place if it becomes a work issue, if it becomes a criminal issue as opposed to a medical issue, then they're held accountable, and they can't work here any longer.

We lose more officers to suicide than line of duty deaths. There's an officer right now contemplating suicide. If you're talking to that officer, what would you say?

What I would say is there's always help and there's always tomorrow. And you're not in this by yourself. And we got your back and we're going to help you. And we're not going to let you commit suicide. Give us the opportunity because we know that you've been the leader in the community. We know those stressors have built up on you. We know you have personal stressors in addition to that, but there's ways for us to peel this onion back. To save your life, to save your family and save your career. But we can't help you if you don't let us. And if we hear about it, we'll do everything in our power. There are no resources we won't use to help you. Because you know what, you're worth it, you're doing God's work out here and why would you think you're alone. I'll promise you, you never are.

You've been through five elections. Do you have any intention of slowing down?

Oh no. When I die, you know, you'll know when I don't want to run for re-election anymore because the media will be gathered out watching them bring me out feet first in a pine box. And I tell folks, in all seriousness, as long as I have my health, my wife has her health, we can move the agency forward. I can look out for the men and women, and the people will re-elect me, that's a real important part.

When it's all said and done.

What do you want to be remembered for?

I want to be remembered that I was a cop. I was just a good cop, and I hope to obtain that status. And I love my family and I love my troops.

How has God helped you in your life?

Well, we wouldn't have a life without God. I look around at nature and I wonder how can you look at the beautiful trees and the birds and the wild animals? How can you look at the grass that grows in the yards and not know there's a God? This stuff just didn't happen. And God is in the center of my life, and I can tell you this from a lifetime of experience, when you get your priorities right, when God's first in your life, your family second and your job’s third, everything will go fine. There's always going to be conflict in your personal life. There could be a lot of stress. I have people say, oh, what about the stress? To me, it's not stress, it’s opportunity. It's opportunity to help and to change and to modify and do good things. You read your Bible. We're all here because God put us in these positions. It makes it real easy for me.

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