By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Federal bribery charges in New York against the owner and CEO of SaferWatch, whose panic button and emergency mass alert system is popular with police and other public officials, are reverberating across Florida, but most urgently in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.
Both Broward’s Public Schools and the Broward Sheriff’s Office have “partnered” with SaferWatch for years as a way of increasing school safety. But Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony and Broward Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Howard Hepburn have taken the relationship a step further by using their public positions of authority to tout SaferWatch’s products on its website.
“SaferWatch provides a quick and convenient way for our school stakeholders to quickly report suspicious activity, potential threats, or bullying to District security personnel and law enforcement partners,” Hepburn is quoted before urging readers to “download the mobile app today.”
“Remember, If you See Something, Say Something, using the SaferWatch app.”
Sheriff Tony did more than give SaferWatch a blurb. He seems to have used BSO’s video capabilities to provide SaferWatch with a nearly two-minute commercial endorsement starring himself in uniform and featuring the liberal use of BSO’s name and logo.
Tony’s blurb, “The SaferWatch App gives anyone the ability to send non-emergency text, video, and audio tips from your smartphone directly to us. It’s a fast, easy, and effective way to report a threat or something suspicious. Become a part of the safety solution. Download the SaferWatch App today.”
The app is used to comply with 2020’s Alyssa’s law, which requires school districts to have a silent, mobile, and user-accessible, alert system in place.
TONY AND SAFERWATCH
Tony’s relationship with SaferWatch and its owner and CEO, Geno Roefaro, goes deeper. He’s helped the company sign up users while receiving tens of thousands of dollars of campaign contributions from Roefaro to his political action committee, Broward First. (The most recent check from Roefaro was for $10,000 in August 2024, election records show.)
Tony has heavily promoted the SaferWatch app as a key tool for enhancing safety in Broward’s schools. And as far back as 2020 the Sun Sentinel reported Tony’s announcement that BSO was extending its “SaferWatch partnership to the religious community so that users can report non-emergency incidents and crime tips in real time directly to the Broward Sheriff’s Office.”
BSO’s “public information unit” did not respond to requests for information about the agency’s business relationship with SaferWatch.
Curiously, there is also a connection between Broward’s schools and Blue Spear Solutions LLC, the for-profit company that Tony founded in 2015 before he was named sheriff by Gov. DeSantis. The company is now run by his wife, Holly. Sheriff Tony has said he bowed out of the company years ago, but he still appears in at least one video on the company’s website.
The June 2025 deal was described in a Broward Public School’s press release as a “multi-year sponsorship” to provide “district staff with bleeding control training” at no cost.
“We appreciate the partnership with Blue Spear Solutions that is bringing this essential, life-saving training to all of our employees,” Superintendent Hepburn is quoted. The press release adds that “Blue Spear is supported by AutoNation, CENTEGIX, SaferWatch, Lipton Toyota, Vaughn Sports Academy, Raptor Technologies and Hudson Capital Group in providing this critical training initiative.” The press release does not elaborate, but executives with some of those companies have contributed to Tony’s election runs.
In May 2020, Florida Bulldog reported about Sheriff Tony’s 2019 purchase of approximately $750,000 in bleeding control kits for BSO from a South Carolina company for which he previously worked and later tried to hide. Two weeks after BSO issued a purchase order for the kits, the CEO and founder of winning bidder North American Rescue LLC funneled $5,000 to Tony’s political action committee.
News of the bleed kit purchase deal triggered an FBI bid-rigging investigation that was later moved to South Carolina by the then head of the FBI’s Miami office. The investigation later fizzled.
Since becoming sheriff in January 2019, Tony haconcealed his former job as director of Community Development for North American Rescue in 2016-2017. He did not mention it when his job history was discussed, and he deleted mention of it from his LinkedIn profile.
BSO spent big on bleed control kits from sheriff’s ex-company, then his PAC got $5,000 contribution from kit vendord
Geno Roefaro lives in a single-family home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Pompano Beach that Broward’s Property Appraiser values at $2.4 million. Roefaro is a big political donor in Florida and elsewhere.
Roefaro donated heavily in 2025 to U.S. Senator Ashley Moody’s election run this year. He also gave generously to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s brief run for president in 2023. But he donated the most heavily, nearly $50,000, to support the failed 2024 bid of James Reyes for Miami-Dade sheriff. Reyes was heavily backed by Sheriff Tony who had his Broward First PAC donate $250,000 to Reyes PAC.
According to a New York Times story about Thursday’s indictment and arrest of Roefaro and Kevin Taylor, the former commanding officer of the NYPD’s department’s School Safety Division, Roefaro’s lawyer is Scott Hartman. Florida Bulldog was unable to reach him before deadline.
According to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, the FBI’s James Barnacle said, “Tayor allegedly accepted bribes to steer city contracts to a co-defendant, Geno Roefaro, and attempted to extort another company.”
Christopher Ryan, the NYPD’s acting commissioner of investigation, said Taylor “monetized his authority and influence for personal gain, promising to advise and pressure others in City government to award contracts to a Florida businessman [Roefaro] in return for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts, including luxury hotel lodging, a helicopter tour and Broadway tickets.”
WERE PUBLIC OFFICIALS PAID TO PRAISE SAFERWATCH?
The line-up of testimonials by public officials that Roefaro managed to obtain for use on SaferWatch’s website to lure customers isn’t confined to Sheriff Tony and Superintendent Hepburn. Like Tony and Hepburn, each used the authority of their public office to the benefit of a private, for-profit business. In the wake of Roefaro’s arrest the outstanding question for each right now: Were they paid to do so by Roefaro?
To see photographs, click here to go to SaferWatch’s “ciient” page.
- Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Rick Maglione. “The SaferWatch Application is a tool that allows the community to connect directly with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Safety is always the top priority for our community. SaferWatch allows us to communicate seamlessly with our neighbors and visitors through their smartphones,” he says his blurb. “Subscribe to SaferWatch today to receive alerts and safety instructions while living, working, or visiting Fort Lauderdale.”
- Wilton Manors Police Chief Gary Blocker. “Your safety is our priority!” he wrote. “As wireless communications and technology advances we are compelled to provide you with the ability to connect with us via the SaferWatch app. This app enables us to accomplish our goal of identifying and implementing innovative techniques to deter, detect and apprehend the criminal element. We encourage everyone to download the SaferWatch app and join our mission to serve and protect! Remember …. if you see something, send something.”
- Sunrise Police Chief Daniel Ransone. “Small tips frequently help us in preventing or solving crimes. If you see a suspicious person, vehicle, or package report it to the police immediately. By partnering with SaferWatch the Sunrise Police Department has made the process easier than ever. Simply download the SaferWatch app from the iOS Application Store, or Android based Google Play Store and electronically send your tip in to us anonymously.”
- Davie Police Chief Stephen Kinsey. “The SaferWatch App is a powerful tool that helps the Davie Police Department to directly connect with the residents and visitors of the Town of Davie. The SaferWatch App allows the community to report suspicious activity, crime tips, threats and non-emergencies seamlessly to Davie PD. SaferWatch also enables Davie PD to send real-time Alerts to the public on their smartphones. Subscribe for free to the SaferWatch App to receive important safety alerts while living, working or visiting the Town of Davie.”
- Miami-Dade Schools Police Chief Ivan Silva. “We’ve always had strong safeguards in place to prevent and respond to active threats, and now, with the integration of the SaferWatch Mobile Panic Alert Button, we’re adding another crucial layer of protection. This technology empowers every employee with the immediate ability to safely and effectively take action in an emergency, ensuring our schools are safer than ever, no matter where they are on campus.”
- Palm Beach County Public Schools Chief of Police Dan Alexander. “We are all a part of school safety. You are our eyes and ears. We are pleased to introduce a new school safety tool, called SaferWatch. The SaferWatch App has three key features. The first is the mobile panic alert solution which allows employees to report emergency situations. The notification feature allows the district to send important information to those who have the app downloaded. The tip solution feature will allow students, parents and teachers to submit suspicious activity and information to the district and our police incident command center. This app will give teachers and school staff a sense of safety and support. Please download the SaferWatch App.”
There are plenty of others shilling for SaferWatch. In their photos they all decked out in their uniforms paid for by taxpayers. Other Florida sheriffs are from Volusia, Clay and Santa Rosa counties. Also listed are the sheriffs of Boone County and Tippecanoe County in Indiana.
Other police chiefs who lent their names and prestige to Roefaro and SaferWatch are Edward Hudak of Coral Gables, Jason Cohen of the Village of Pinecrest, Brian J. Smith of June Beach and Victor Gualillo of Atlantic Beach.
Rodney Barreto, the Miami lobbyist and man of many hats, is identified only as chairman of the 2020 Miami Super Bowl Host Committee. But he’s also co-chair of the Miami Host Committee for the FIFA World Cup 2026, his to say: “Download the free SaferWatch app today and help be a part of the safety solution.”
It is noteworthy that Nova Southeastern University also endorsed SaferWatch, but no individual stuck his or her neck out. Their quote is attributed to the university: “The SaferWatch App allows students and visitors to easily report suspicious activity they may observe while at NSU. SaferWatch tips go directly to NSU’s Public Safety Team to review and respond. Having the SaferWatch App also allows you to receive real-time alerts and updates directly from Nova Southeastern University. Download the SaferWatch App today!”
Leave a Reply