By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
A second public official, the mayor of Pembroke Park, has accused Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony of threatening him with physical harm.
“I’m not sure when it became acceptable for a sheriff to threaten elected officials, but that’s exactly what’s happening,” Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs told Florida Bulldog in an interview Sunday. “Sheriff Tony is now threatening me personally. This is not right, and it raises serious questions about abuse of power.”
In early August, at a video-taped police roll call, Tony asked deputies if he should “destroy” Deerfield Beach City Manager Rodney Brimlow – a former BSO captain – amid faltering negotiations about whether the city should renew its multi-million-dollar police and fire contracts with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
“We’re not getting paid what we deserve and we’re putting our lives on the line, and we have a 92% satisfactory rate countywide,” Tony said. “You tell me if I should go absolutely nuclear on this and destroy him. Because I have the power of this office to do a lot of damage to individuals.”
Tony later denied that was a threat. Yet coming from a gun-toting sheriff who, as a 14-year-old hothead in Philadelphia shot and killed a young man execution style after witnesses said the man insulted his mother, such language can be frightening.
Brimlow filed a complaint against Tony with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Local 10.com reported later that BSO provided a reporter an FDLE report that said Tony “did not make any direct overt threat to the personal safety of Brimlow” and called Tony’s word’s “rhetoric [that] was directed in a political manner” to get BSO deputies in Deerfield Beach to put pressure on the city to approve the contracts.
Brimlow did not return a Florida Bulldog phone message requesting comment.
The Deerfield Beach public safety contracts expired Sept. 30. Last Thursday, the city announced that it had “officially entered its transition period for public safety services” when BSO will continue to provide police and fire services for up to 24 months while the city decides whether to remain with BSO or restart its own police department after three decades with the sheriff’s office.
Four years ago, on Oct. 1, 2022, Pembroke Park Mayor Jacobs led his small town’s decision to end its policing contract with Tony’s sheriff’s office and re-establish its own police department. The town had been with BSO since 1980.
‘YOU’RE RECKONING IS NEXT’
Last month, after Tony took to Instagram thanking the City of West Park for renewing its contract with BSO (which city records indicate never happened), Jacobs fired off a public reply:
“If any other municipality is looking for a proven roadmap to build a police or fire department and create a pathway forward away from BSO, please reach out. I have the blueprint and will gladly share it with any municipality in Broward County that is ready to take that step.”
That’s when, on Sept. 20, Tony countered with what Jacobs sees as a threat. “A hurt dog will always bark. Don’t worry – your reckoning is next.”
Sheriff Tony did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Mayor Jacobs filed a complaint with the governor’s office, which referred him to the Office of Statewide Prosecution. Rita Pavan Peters, a special counsel in its Tampa office, passed the buck to the FDLE in a one-paragraph reply.
Jacobs was not amused.
“With all due respect, I have no confidence that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will act on complaints against the Broward County Sheriff. This lack of accountability is precisely why the Governor’s Office directed me to file this matter with your agency,” he wrote to Peters.
“Recently, Sheriff Gregory Tony has made public statements in which he threatened to ‘go nuclear’ and use the full resources of his office against other elected officials and city managers here in Broward County. Such statements are not only inappropriate but may constitute an abuse of power and intimidation under both federal and state law.
“I am therefore requesting your agency’s immediate attention to this matter. The Sheriff’s public threats, coupled with his control of law enforcement resources, create a chilling effect on the ability of other public officials to perform their duties without fear of retaliation.”
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