Tough-on-crime Florida Sheriff Grady Judd took to the media to tell any squatters in Florida that, if they try their nonsense in his county, he will be their “worst enemy.” Such is what Sheriff Judd told Fox News Digital in an interview, saying that if any squatters try their “gimmicks” in his jurisdiction, Polk County, Florida, he’ll come after them with the full weight of the law.
Sheriff Judd’s remarks came shortly after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill that removes protections for squatters and makes it much easier for property owners to have them removed. Describing the bill, Governor DeSantis said, “Well, today in the state of Florida, we say very simply what passes muster in New York and California is not passing muster here. You are not going to be able to commandeer somebody’s private property and expect to get away with it. We are, in the state of Florida, ending the squatter scam once and for all.”
He continued, “And so we don’t want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of people that are violating the law. We want the law to have the thumb on the scale in favor of law abiding property owners. And that’s what you’re going to see here with this piece of legislation. What you can do now, if you’re the victim of squatting, you can simply fill out a form, give it to your local sheriff, and the sheriff is instructed to go and remove the people who are inhabiting your dwelling illegally. And that will happen very quickly.”
Sheriff Judd, for his part, made it clear that his approach to dealing with squatters, in the news thanks to particularly egregious incidents in California and New York, would be very no-nonsense and that criminal squatters would find themselves locked up. “When you come to this community, and you violate the state laws, the people’s laws will lock you up,” he said.
Sheriff Judd then explained that it is, in his opinion, utterly insane for blue states like New York and California to allow squatters to stay in commandeered property for so long. Telling as much to Fox News Digital, he said, “I think New York and California allowing them to stay for weeks, months, years or days – They’re just crazy.”
Then, explaining how his department dealt with squatters who claimed a piece of property was theirs, he said, “Well, we moved them out to the county jail and charged them with burglary. That’s why I don’t understand what the laws possibly could be that would allow people to unilaterally, illegally trespass, break into your home just because you weren’t there and take it over. It doesn’t make any sense to me at all.”
Continuing, he again expressed shock and horror at the idea of letting a few criminals commander homes, saying, “Why are we letting a few people, a few deviants that want to violate the rules and not go along with society’s rules, which are known as laws? Why are we letting them run over and victimize the good people? It just makes no sense to me,” he said. “You disobey the law and I will be your worst enemy.”
He added, “The laws [in places like New York and California] are being changed to enable the criminal, to be a criminal, to encourage the criminal. And when a criminal can steal and get away with it, when a criminal can steal and not be held accountable or responsible, then not only do they do that, but others watch that and say, ‘Me, too.’”
Watch Gov. DeSantis describe Florida’s new approach to squatters here:
Featured image credit: By Desmond Harris – http://www.polksheriff.org/about/sheriff-grady-judd, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115684791
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