Florida Police Departments Spent Thousands on Training Seminars Banned in 9 States
Police and sheriff’s departments across Florida spent thousands of dollars sending officers to training conferences that have been banned in nine other states after being accused of promoting unconstitutional tactics and glorifying violence.
Reason obtained invoices through public records requests showing that a dozen of Florida’s largest law enforcement agencies spent $31,377 on training seminars hosted by Street Cop Training, a New Jersey-based company, between 2020 and 2023.
The company has been under intense scrutiny since the New Jersey Office of the State Comptroller issued a scathing report in December detailing a 2021 Street Cop Training conference in Atlantic City where instructors made discriminatory and unprofessional remarks. At the conference, one instructor flashed a picture of a monkey when talking about an elderly black man, and the founder of the company said that refusing to consent to a police search was justification for prolonging an investigation. Since then, New Jersey has ordered retraining for all officers who attended Street Cop conferences, and the company has declared bankruptcy.
The Florida invoices shed light on Street Cop’s foothold in one of the most populous states. Despite the turbulent times for the company, it is soldiering on in the Sunshine State. As Florida Today‘s John Torres noted in a recent op-ed, Orlando is hosting the 2024 Street Cop Conference this week.
Not only that, but Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey is a speaker at the conference.
Torres noted with disdain that taxpayers were footing the bill to send officers to these conferences.
“Locally, at least one Melbourne officer is attending the training with the department paying for it,” Torres wrote. “Palm Bay and Cocoa have none and the Brevard County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to my inquiry about how many deputies were attending. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement could not tell me how many officers were attending.”
It would probably not surprise Torres to learn that the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office spent the most out of any agency that has so far responded to Reason‘s records requests. Street Cop invoices to the agency total $7,825 between 2020 and 2023.
The next biggest spender was the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office with $7,085, followed by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Department at $6,604.
Six Florida Highway Patrol officers attended Street Cop training seminars during that time period, according to records.
To compile this report, Reason filed 28 public records requests to the largest police departments and sheriff’s offices in Florida. Nine agencies said they had no responsive records. Seven requests are still pending, including from populous jurisdictions such as Broward and Orange County.
Street Cop Training was founded in 2012 by Dennis Benigno, a former New Jersey police officer. It runs training conferences for thousands of police officers around the country, but flew under the radar until New Jersey Comptroller Kevin Walsh’s December report. The report documented dozens upon dozens of lewd and discriminatory remarks
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