September 18, 2025 • 25 mins
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw talks about the repeal of Florida's open carry ban, security on our campuses and large events and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, Joel Malkin for WJ and O dot com and
the Florida News Network, and we are talking for protecting
the Palm Beaches with Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw,
and we are going to start with open carry. And Rick,
I want to set this up. Of course, Florida Attorney
General James Uthmeyer was earlier this week declaring or maybe
(00:20):
it was last week, but declaring that gun owners are
free to openly carry statewide. Now he told us this
on the Brian Mud Show here on WJ and O. Previously,
it was earlier last week that he actually said that,
but he put out a statement to all of the
sheriff's offices statewide, I believe. And then there, of course,
(00:41):
there is some thought that I guess it's going to
be another nine I guess at this point eight days
before the ban is officially lifted because of the way
the state statutes. But I wanted to reach out to
you about this and other topics. Sheriff Bradshaw, Palm Beach County,
Thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Me, no problem, And yeah, we got we got that memo.
But you know, look, we always assume everybody's arm until
we find out they're not right. So it's not going
to hold change a lot about how we do business
with people. But everybody's got to realize that even though
you're allowed to carry this gun unconcealed, that there are
(01:22):
certain places you just can't go. It hasn't changed the
basic law as far as where you could go with
a gun and where you can't. You know, you can't
go into schools, you can't go into city and county courthouses,
you can't go into police stations, you can't go into
sheriff's offices. You can't go into a place where somebody
(01:43):
has you know, got private property and posted and says
no firearms allowed because you're truspass them. So you know,
those restrictions that were there before on taket guns into
places are still there. They haven't changed, right, And there's
there's part of it is you can I carry this
firearm in a rude or careless manner where you're threatening
(02:05):
people or you know you're you know, taking the gun
in and out of the holster. You know that's reckless
and careless, and you know that's that's not going to
be allowed.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Do you envision more? And you mentioned that you know,
we've always had some some stores that would have that
sign up, you know, guns not allowed. Do you envision
that more? Maybe Mom and Pops might do that just
out of fear.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, it depends on what the public sentiment is that
they feel as out there. If they think it's bad
for business because they don't allow that, well they're certainly
not going to do it. But if they think that,
you know, the people that use their stores are going
to be scared of people walking around with the gun out,
then they might go the other way to say, hey,
(02:55):
you know, it's bad for business. So it's probably an
individual decision in based on what they believe is going
to affect their business.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
All right, So, and you did touch on this, but
I just wanted to you know, there there are reports
out there about some studies indicating that relaxing gun laws,
things like open kerry, do increase officer involve shootings. And again,
I know you touched on this, but just to get
more specific. You know, you have an officer show up
(03:24):
and let's say, you know, you've got people with guns
and holsters and you don't know, how do you tell
who the good guy is and who the bad guy is?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
In those situations, it's tough because you really don't know
to do you get things straightened out. So it's like
everything else. When we go to an incident that has
been reported to us where there's a crime being committed
and there's three or four people there, well, everybody's a
bad guy to us until we find out they're not.
(03:51):
It's just like we assume everybody is armed until we
find out they're not. Now it's going to be a
little more easier to see who's armed and who not
if they got it out, but we're going to get
the situation stabilized to tell everybody, you know, don't draw
the gun, keep your hands where we can see them,
you know, and get the situation stabilized till we can
(04:15):
find out who's good who's bad. So it's a matter
of you know, just tactics and getting the situation stabilized
where we can decide who's who.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Does it make it inherently then more dangerous for law
enforcement members, whether it be on a traffic stop or
just you know, a routine patrol or showing up to
a call.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, not really, like I said, regardless of whether it's
open carry or concealed carry. When we go and we're
involved with somebody, we assume they're armed until we find
out they're not. Whether it's a traffic stop, whether it's
a domestic violence, wherever we're going to be involved with
people out here, the first thing we do is make
sure that the situation suation is safe for us and
(05:02):
everybody's protected, and we can conduct our investigation in a
safe and you know, efficient manner. So you know, we're
going to do business exactly the same way we've always
done it.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And is there any kind of a fear that you'll
you know, if some let's say you get a call
to nine one one, somebody calls you know, we've got
somebody with a gun, And then I mean, is it
going to be like a waste to call because yeah,
you know, somebody's walking around with a gun and a
holster versus somebody you know holding I guess a rifle
pointing at things. You know, obviously that would still be illegal.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I would assume, correct, Yeah, yeah you can't do that.
But you know, hopefully the dispatch people I think they're
going to do this, they'll be able to say, well, okay,
is it somebody that's threatened on somebody with a gun.
Is it somebody that's just walking down the street with
a gun? You know, what are the elements about what's
going on? So that will change what our response is.
(05:59):
So is there I mean, it's just like these calls
that you get out here now about the swatting where
people call in and say, hey, you know, somebody's being
held hostage in my house and you know it's a
fake call, but they want all the swat teams that
come out. You know, we've learned that you ask more questions,
you call, say give me a call back number, right,
(06:21):
and usually you know people are going to say, well
you can't call me back, Well, yes we can. You know,
there's a lot of things you can do to find
out what it is you're getting involved in before you
just send somebody on a call that says somebody's got
a gun.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Will there be to your knowledge? Will there be more training?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
With this with this new you know, with the band
going away for open carry amongst deputies and maybe the
operators as well well.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The training will be to make sure they understand that
it's legal to do the normal open carry and then
remind them what the inscriptions are as far as as
far as how they do business tactically as far as
you know handling calls. No, the training is exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
But there is there is going to be some minimal
amount of training for deputies to say, hey, by the way,
open care because not everybody follows the news, right, I
mean you got a lot of deputies, so you know, hey,
by the way, I guess that would be up to
the individual supervisors.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, we'll do that a live roll call training, and
then we're going to give him a quick reference call
to say, hey, you know it is open carry, but
here's the restrictions that they can't do no different than before.
So they'll have a quick reference that that they can
look after each individual call.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Now, it's interesting your your counterpart, Bob Galtieri or is
it Penellas County. I believe he had originally a few
days ago when uh Uthmyer it first announced, Hey, the
band's been lifted and we're not going to enforce it,
uh the the open carry ban lower court. He was
I hesitate to say it this way, but it appeared
(08:00):
pushing back a little bit against it. What I found
interesting was he was the guy who headed up the
Marjorie Stone in Douglas High School Task Force or whatever
they called it after the Parkland school shooting. So I
would I would guess that maybe he's you know, where
they came up with some more gun laws and what
not that seemed to have worked as far as for
(08:21):
you know, knock on wood for school shooting, some of
the stuff that they that they put through. But now
I guess he's saying, Okay, it's you know, it's lifted
as of now. But he did point out a few
days ago that really understate law there was a fifteen
day waiting period for that. But now he's kind of like,
(08:42):
now it's fine. You know, after roth Meyer's noticed everybody
is that the same case with PbSO are you going
to wait till the twenty I guess it would be
the twenty sixth, or or if somebody's open carrying now
they don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Now. We're not gonna we're not going to get involved
in waiting. We're just going to say this is what
it is now and just go about our business. Whether
you wait now or fifteen days, it doesn't change. That's
not able to change anything. So you know, why you
even get involved in doing that, just.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I don't know. It is, you know, according to the
state statute. That's why I said, It's why I just,
you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm not We're fine.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I get you know, the order from the the you know,
top law enforcement person in the state. I guess would
be enough, is what it sounds like, you know, the
Attorney general. I had another question that I'm flaking on
it now regarding this, but but guns, I think that's
probably it. I don't know anything, oh real quick. When
(09:44):
we spoke with the state Attorney General Athmeyer last week,
he talking about this subject, you know, he referenced he said,
hopefully we don't have the issue with some of the people.
He said, you'll always have and he worded it as
crazy person and there's something like that, paraphrasing, who'll walk around,
you know, with a rifle on their back and this
(10:07):
and that and the other, because that could cause problems.
So that's not really what we're talking about with open carry,
with people trying to really you know, look at this
giant gun, right, it's more explained to me. It's more
about having it in a holster you're walking down the
street or whatnot. Not obviously not taking it anywhere you're
not allowed to. Is that how it works?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Right? Yeah, Look, there's a common sense approach to this.
It's basically, you and a citizen have the right to
carry a gun, whether it's concealed or open. You don't
have the right to be reckless or careless with it.
You don't have the right to threaten people because of
your actions. I mean, a guy with an M sixteen
walking down in the middle of a crowd. You know,
(10:46):
that's an issue because you're scaring people. That's not what
this is about, all right, So each situation is going
to be based on, Okay, what's going on, what's transpiring,
what is occurring. As far as the open carry is concerned.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Let's talk about you know, we had this horrific assassination
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk far from here in Utah.
But this was a political assassination, as it looks like
according to the police out west there. And you know,
(11:24):
this has become a very volatile nation. And you know,
this happened on a college campus, a university campus, Utah
Valley University. And you know, we have some universities here
and I know, for instance, FAU and you know, I
don't know about Lynn, but you know, FAU has their
own police, and then of course there's book a ratone police.
(11:45):
And you know when we talk about events on campuses
but also just in general big public events, does anything
change after after the Kirk assassination.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Well, see, here's what you got to think through this thing.
Number One, outdoor events itself are tough venues to do
security with. I mean, the Secret Service found that out
in Butler. Now they made some tactical mistakes, but you know,
inherently outdoor events are tough anyhow because you don't have
(12:19):
a finite area to secure. It's open and there's buildings,
and there's people, and you know, egress at adgress we're inside.
You don't have that. So I think down the road
you're going to see a lot less outside events because
it's so tough. Now, Charlie Kirk was not an elected representative,
(12:40):
He wasn't a president, you know, he wasn't an official.
So I think that they were thinking the security level,
you know, doesn't have to be that big because he's
just a guy that's talking on the campus. Well, you know,
the results weren't too good. So in my estimation, I
think if people are going to have outdoor events, they
(13:02):
need to ramp up. What the security is going to
be based on who the individual is and what they're talking.
So if you've got a guy or a girl that
is very controversial and tends to stir people up, you're
probably going to want to do a little bit more
security than a guy that is just you know, putting
on a concert and playing a guitar. Two different things.
(13:25):
But you know, the level that you ramp up to
is going to depend on what the event is, where
it's at, and whether you should move it indoors or not.
You know, it's tough. We we run into that, you know,
with the president down here, I think.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
The issue could end up being though if you move
it indoors. You know, this event tad I want to
say two to three thousand people according to the reports,
the one in Utah with Kirk, you can't get that
many people, you know, typically in an indoor situation.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well you could if you've got like a stadium, you know,
like they're doing the the Turbini. I think they're going
to use a stadium Cardinals. You know that that's a
lot easier secure than you know, just an open venue.
At eighty thousand people, So you know, you could you
can find some venues that are a little bit more
(14:17):
easily secured.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So because we're talking specifically, but let's let's look specifically
at Turning Point, USA, which you know says you know,
Erica Kirk, the Charlie's widow, has vowed that they're going
to keep doing their college tour. So they show up
at colleges, if they go inside a little auditorium, they're
not going to be able to get that that many people.
And this is a movement that doesn't look like it's
(14:40):
you know, if anything, it looks like it's growing, uh
since a week ago Wednesday. But but you're saying, like
a like a place like FAU for example, has a
football stadium, maybe they could do something like that how
many they sit? But I would imagine that's a.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Lot more easily secure than just a wide open area. Yeah,
I just you've got certain places of eager us at
Agress and of course you got the surrounding bleachers and everything.
It's you know, it's a lot easier to control that
that it is just a wide open area.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I know that it's been spoken that you know, people
would hate for the colleges to just say, you know what,
we're not doing this anymore. It's too dangerous because the
discourse I think is needed.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's you know, well, yeah, I mean you hate, you
hate to knock stuff off just because it's dangerous. But
I mean the reality of it is, you know, I
think you're going to see elected officials, regardless of whether
it's the president, right on down and do a lot
less outdoor and a lot more indoor.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And you think that'll be immediate or do you think
that's allowed, that'll be coming in the coming.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I mean, you know, if we get somebody that's coming
here they say this is where we want to go,
we're going to say, well, that's not a really good idea.
Why don't you think about, you know, something that holds
a lot of people? But said doors, I mean it's
like the convention Center. You get a lot of people
in there.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, in fact, I think, yeah, my daughter graduated in there.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Oh yeah, you can get a lot of people. So
there's there's places that we could get a lot of
people that are so much easier to secure than outdoor venue.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Do you so let me go back to fau or
Len you know, do you typically are you asked by
the police at the school or the city to to
send deputies and help when when events like these happen.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It depends on the event. You know, We've been down
there helping FAU when they had some very very big
football games that were championship game or something like that,
only because of the volume of people, not because there
was a danger or something. And it depends on the
threat level. I mean, usually i'd be with us. You know,
our analysts that are asside the Homeland Security are pretty
(16:46):
good at, you know, scouring the information that's out there
to see if there's any any chat about a threat
or possible threat levels with the organization that that may
be coming.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So and I just want, I want to pivot real quick.
And I didn't mention this to you, but mar Lago,
we just had this lady that claimed to be the
first lady. I don't know if you had heard about
this case.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Palm Beach police and the Secret Service were there, and
I know that you Sheriff's office also helps with security,
and you and I have talked about this before. Obviously,
the President's not there right now because it's summer, so
we'll start seeing him when it cools off a little more,
I guess. But you know there's a lady that showed
(17:33):
up and said, yeah, I'm his wife and I have
a delivery for him. And this was Tuesday this week,
and I guess she had been may attempted to get
through there a few times and was given a trespass
warning and now she's and now she's you know, been arrested.
I mean, it seems like these are more and more frequent.
(17:54):
But they have it locked up there, right, I mean
it's pretty pretty secure.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, just because he's not there doesn't mean that there's
not an appropriate number of people that are still securing
the place, right. And the reason is, you know, somebody
could go in there and plan a device, you know,
before he gets here, and then detonate the device after
he gets here. So you know, the place is just
not wide open where people can just walk all over
(18:21):
the place wherever they want to walk all over. I mean,
we're there, you know, along with the Secret Service and
most of the day through the night to make sure
that people just don't walk in there.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And U Palm Beach Police also have officers there.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah, they patrol a little bit, but the vast majority
of the security that's there is between us and the
Secret Service.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Okay, all right, let me talk about the budget. And
this has been this has been out there reported for
a few months, and you know, every time it's budget time,
some of the local media outlets, well we'll get in
there and talk about the sheriff's budget and oh my gosh,
why is it so high? And you asked for it
(19:07):
was reported as one point one billion. I guess it
was just above one billion. You can give me the
exact number in a second. But it is being called
a record amount for somebody that might say, you know, wow,
you know everything's more expensive now, and you know, why
are we paying so much for the sheriff's office. Go
ahead and explain.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Well, I'll mean, look, I hear the same rhetoric every time.
You know, when it was nine hundred thousand, it was
a record. You know, when it was nine to eighty,
it's another record. The reality of it is is eighty
percent of your budget is personnel. So you know, when
they get a cola, which they get every year, and
there's more healthcare costs and there's more pension costs that
(19:52):
you have to pay for FRS it's going up. There's
nothing I can do about it. It's just like feed
the prisoners in the jail. You know, go to the
grocery store and you'll find out things are more expensive.
Well guess what, because are more expensive for me to
guard the prisoners in the jail. Healthcare is more expensive,
(20:13):
the food's more expensive, gas is more expensive. So you
know it's going to go up. I guess what. Next year,
it'll go up some more. And there's certain costs that
are uncontrollable that are going to make it go up.
But having said that, even the county commissioners that pass
(20:33):
the budget unanimously said the same thing. You know, the
job of the county and the cities are to provide
protection to the people that live in the city. That's
fire and police start with. Right, that's the most important things.
So you know, it's not like we're you know, expending
(20:54):
money on lavish things every day. You know, there's certain
things that are going to cost some money. We had
to replace some cars. We put off last year getting
some cars because we wanted to reduce the budget and
pushed it into this year. Well, if you've been to
the car dealership, guess what they're more expensive too, So
(21:14):
you know, regardless of whether you think it right or
not right, things go up, just like your personal budget.
So you know, we got it down. I ended up
covering like forty seven million out of it to get
it down like it was, and it did some things
we pushed into next year. But you know, that's the
(21:34):
cost of doing business. And guess what, two hundred and
ninety million of my budget is not even my responsibility.
It's the counties. It says in the state statue says
the county runs the jail, the county runs courthouse security,
the county runs the crime lab, and the county pays
for school crossing guards. They put all of that into
(21:57):
by budget and said would you run it? If I
said yeah, they said, good, we'll give you the money.
So it's a little disingenuous to say, oh, geez, the
sheriff's budget's so big when almost two hundred and ninety
million of it I could take out of it tomorrow,
give it back to the cow.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And it is a It is an increase of one
hundred and sixteen million from the previous budget. This takes
effect what October first, Yeah, now, Blazingolia are the state's
new CFO. He joined us. I guess a month or
so ago whenever it was that he and the Florida
(22:36):
DOGE team Department of Government Efficiency for Florida. We're in
town and you know, one of the things that he
has said, because you know, some folks have said, oh,
if he makes everybody cut back, it's going to cost
I'm sure you've heard this, it's going to cost on safety,
fire and police. And he's actually said, no, that's one
thing I won't cut Did anybody from that team or
(22:56):
Angolia himself meet with you or your agency at all
when they were in town? And are there any concerns
that he could flag something? I mean, based on what
he's saying, I wouldn't assume so, but I wanted to ask.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
No, they didn't meet with us because they realized that
the money we're expending is for the safety of the community.
You know, we had a seventeen percent reduction in crime
last year's that's a lot. That's pretty that's pretty good.
I don't think anybody in the state had much higher that.
But it costs money to do that. But that's what
people pay for. They pay for their safety. And if
(23:32):
you feel comfortable going to the malls, going to the
grocery store, going down to the seven eleven, you know,
going to the county parks. So you know, it's not like,
you know, my budget. At the end of my budget
when I submitted, there's a paragraph that says, I swear
and you know, on you know, my hand in the air,
(23:53):
that this budget I'm submitted is what it cost me
to protect the citizens. Upon meach o. Nobody else has
at the end of their budget, but I'm required to
do that as a constitutional officer. So you know, I'm
swearing that this is what I need to protect you,
and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Now I'm seeing did the county approve the entire budget
at this point or where I think two days ago
they were still holding workshops, right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, the last one was this Tuesday. Yeah, and they
mid at five o'clock and they vote on my budget separately.
So when you say, hey, you know the sheriff is
fifty percent of the county's budget, that's not true. My
budget is separate from them. They have to take a
separate vote on my budget. That's in the state statute.
So they voted on my budget.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
There was seven zero, and that's an official vote. That's
a final vote.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And then they still have to Then they still have
to I guess give the final vote to the rest
of the budget.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, they did that might also they vote on both
of them.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Okay, oh, right after the tuesdays. Okay, all right. I
wanted to make sure that I got that straight. All right,
is there anything else? Do you have any any up
I'm you know, kind of off the top of your head,
any events that are coming up within the next couple
of months or anything you get any coffees with a
with a copp or or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Nope, we're just we're waiting for the big guy to
come back into town, respect them and later October, so
you know, we're trying of getting ourselves geared up for that.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, as I said, when it starts to cool off
a little bit, although I don't know October. October could
still be pretty pretty hot, but I guess it does.
It does cool off quite a bit in other areas,
so you know, he'll start he'll start making his uh,
he'll start making his trips here and then we'll hear
the stories about that too, So.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
No doubt, all right, anything else, No, that's good. Thanks
forgetting the information out.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Not never a problem, Sheriff Rick Bradshaw, Thank you for
always being available to us for protecting the Palm Beaches
here on w J and O and the Florida News
Network
Hey, Joel Malkin for WJ and O dot com and
the Florida News Network, and we are talking for protecting
the Palm Beaches with Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw,
and we are going to start with open carry. And Rick,
I want to set this up. Of course, Florida Attorney
General James Uthmeyer was earlier this week declaring or maybe
(00:20):
it was last week, but declaring that gun owners are
free to openly carry statewide. Now he told us this
on the Brian Mud Show here on WJ and O. Previously,
it was earlier last week that he actually said that,
but he put out a statement to all of the
sheriff's offices statewide, I believe. And then there, of course,
(00:41):
there is some thought that I guess it's going to
be another nine I guess at this point eight days
before the ban is officially lifted because of the way
the state statutes. But I wanted to reach out to
you about this and other topics. Sheriff Bradshaw, Palm Beach County,
Thank you for joining.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Me, no problem, And yeah, we got we got that memo.
But you know, look, we always assume everybody's arm until
we find out they're not right. So it's not going
to hold change a lot about how we do business
with people. But everybody's got to realize that even though
you're allowed to carry this gun unconcealed, that there are
(01:22):
certain places you just can't go. It hasn't changed the
basic law as far as where you could go with
a gun and where you can't. You know, you can't
go into schools, you can't go into city and county courthouses,
you can't go into police stations, you can't go into
sheriff's offices. You can't go into a place where somebody
(01:43):
has you know, got private property and posted and says
no firearms allowed because you're truspass them. So you know,
those restrictions that were there before on taket guns into
places are still there. They haven't changed, right, And there's
there's part of it is you can I carry this
firearm in a rude or careless manner where you're threatening
(02:05):
people or you know you're you know, taking the gun
in and out of the holster. You know that's reckless
and careless, and you know that's that's not going to
be allowed.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Do you envision more? And you mentioned that you know,
we've always had some some stores that would have that
sign up, you know, guns not allowed. Do you envision
that more? Maybe Mom and Pops might do that just
out of fear.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Well, it depends on what the public sentiment is that
they feel as out there. If they think it's bad
for business because they don't allow that, well they're certainly
not going to do it. But if they think that,
you know, the people that use their stores are going
to be scared of people walking around with the gun out,
then they might go the other way to say, hey,
(02:55):
you know, it's bad for business. So it's probably an
individual decision in based on what they believe is going
to affect their business.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
All right, So, and you did touch on this, but
I just wanted to you know, there there are reports
out there about some studies indicating that relaxing gun laws,
things like open kerry, do increase officer involve shootings. And again,
I know you touched on this, but just to get
more specific. You know, you have an officer show up
(03:24):
and let's say, you know, you've got people with guns
and holsters and you don't know, how do you tell
who the good guy is and who the bad guy is?
Speaker 2 (03:31):
In those situations, it's tough because you really don't know
to do you get things straightened out. So it's like
everything else. When we go to an incident that has
been reported to us where there's a crime being committed
and there's three or four people there, well, everybody's a
bad guy to us until we find out they're not.
(03:51):
It's just like we assume everybody is armed until we
find out they're not. Now it's going to be a
little more easier to see who's armed and who not
if they got it out, but we're going to get
the situation stabilized to tell everybody, you know, don't draw
the gun, keep your hands where we can see them,
you know, and get the situation stabilized till we can
(04:15):
find out who's good who's bad. So it's a matter
of you know, just tactics and getting the situation stabilized
where we can decide who's who.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Does it make it inherently then more dangerous for law
enforcement members, whether it be on a traffic stop or
just you know, a routine patrol or showing up to
a call.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
No, not really, like I said, regardless of whether it's
open carry or concealed carry. When we go and we're
involved with somebody, we assume they're armed until we find
out they're not. Whether it's a traffic stop, whether it's
a domestic violence, wherever we're going to be involved with
people out here, the first thing we do is make
sure that the situation suation is safe for us and
(05:02):
everybody's protected, and we can conduct our investigation in a
safe and you know, efficient manner. So you know, we're
going to do business exactly the same way we've always
done it.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
And is there any kind of a fear that you'll
you know, if some let's say you get a call
to nine one one, somebody calls you know, we've got
somebody with a gun, And then I mean, is it
going to be like a waste to call because yeah,
you know, somebody's walking around with a gun and a
holster versus somebody you know holding I guess a rifle
pointing at things. You know, obviously that would still be illegal.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I would assume, correct, Yeah, yeah you can't do that.
But you know, hopefully the dispatch people I think they're
going to do this, they'll be able to say, well, okay,
is it somebody that's threatened on somebody with a gun.
Is it somebody that's just walking down the street with
a gun? You know, what are the elements about what's
going on? So that will change what our response is.
(05:59):
So is there I mean, it's just like these calls
that you get out here now about the swatting where
people call in and say, hey, you know, somebody's being
held hostage in my house and you know it's a
fake call, but they want all the swat teams that
come out. You know, we've learned that you ask more questions,
you call, say give me a call back number, right,
(06:21):
and usually you know people are going to say, well
you can't call me back, Well, yes we can. You know,
there's a lot of things you can do to find
out what it is you're getting involved in before you
just send somebody on a call that says somebody's got
a gun.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Will there be to your knowledge? Will there be more training?
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (06:40):
With this with this new you know, with the band
going away for open carry amongst deputies and maybe the
operators as well well.
Speaker 2 (06:49):
The training will be to make sure they understand that
it's legal to do the normal open carry and then
remind them what the inscriptions are as far as as
far as how they do business tactically as far as
you know handling calls. No, the training is exactly the same.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
But there is there is going to be some minimal
amount of training for deputies to say, hey, by the way,
open care because not everybody follows the news, right, I
mean you got a lot of deputies, so you know, hey,
by the way, I guess that would be up to
the individual supervisors.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, we'll do that a live roll call training, and
then we're going to give him a quick reference call
to say, hey, you know it is open carry, but
here's the restrictions that they can't do no different than before.
So they'll have a quick reference that that they can
look after each individual call.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Now, it's interesting your your counterpart, Bob Galtieri or is
it Penellas County. I believe he had originally a few
days ago when uh Uthmyer it first announced, Hey, the
band's been lifted and we're not going to enforce it,
uh the the open carry ban lower court. He was
I hesitate to say it this way, but it appeared
(08:00):
pushing back a little bit against it. What I found
interesting was he was the guy who headed up the
Marjorie Stone in Douglas High School Task Force or whatever
they called it after the Parkland school shooting. So I
would I would guess that maybe he's you know, where
they came up with some more gun laws and what
not that seemed to have worked as far as for
(08:21):
you know, knock on wood for school shooting, some of
the stuff that they that they put through. But now
I guess he's saying, Okay, it's you know, it's lifted
as of now. But he did point out a few
days ago that really understate law there was a fifteen
day waiting period for that. But now he's kind of like,
(08:42):
now it's fine. You know, after roth Meyer's noticed everybody
is that the same case with PbSO are you going
to wait till the twenty I guess it would be
the twenty sixth, or or if somebody's open carrying now
they don't have to worry about it.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Now. We're not gonna we're not going to get involved
in waiting. We're just going to say this is what
it is now and just go about our business. Whether
you wait now or fifteen days, it doesn't change. That's
not able to change anything. So you know, why you
even get involved in doing that, just.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I don't know. It is, you know, according to the
state statute. That's why I said, It's why I just,
you know, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I'm not We're fine.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I get you know, the order from the the you know,
top law enforcement person in the state. I guess would
be enough, is what it sounds like, you know, the
Attorney general. I had another question that I'm flaking on
it now regarding this, but but guns, I think that's
probably it. I don't know anything, oh real quick. When
(09:44):
we spoke with the state Attorney General Athmeyer last week,
he talking about this subject, you know, he referenced he said,
hopefully we don't have the issue with some of the people.
He said, you'll always have and he worded it as
crazy person and there's something like that, paraphrasing, who'll walk around,
you know, with a rifle on their back and this
(10:07):
and that and the other, because that could cause problems.
So that's not really what we're talking about with open carry,
with people trying to really you know, look at this
giant gun, right, it's more explained to me. It's more
about having it in a holster you're walking down the
street or whatnot. Not obviously not taking it anywhere you're
not allowed to. Is that how it works?
Speaker 2 (10:25):
Right? Yeah, Look, there's a common sense approach to this.
It's basically, you and a citizen have the right to
carry a gun, whether it's concealed or open. You don't
have the right to be reckless or careless with it.
You don't have the right to threaten people because of
your actions. I mean, a guy with an M sixteen
walking down in the middle of a crowd. You know,
(10:46):
that's an issue because you're scaring people. That's not what
this is about, all right, So each situation is going
to be based on, Okay, what's going on, what's transpiring,
what is occurring. As far as the open carry is concerned.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Let's talk about you know, we had this horrific assassination
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk far from here in Utah.
But this was a political assassination, as it looks like
according to the police out west there. And you know,
(11:24):
this has become a very volatile nation. And you know,
this happened on a college campus, a university campus, Utah
Valley University. And you know, we have some universities here
and I know, for instance, FAU and you know, I
don't know about Lynn, but you know, FAU has their
own police, and then of course there's book a ratone police.
(11:45):
And you know when we talk about events on campuses
but also just in general big public events, does anything
change after after the Kirk assassination.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Well, see, here's what you got to think through this thing.
Number One, outdoor events itself are tough venues to do
security with. I mean, the Secret Service found that out
in Butler. Now they made some tactical mistakes, but you know,
inherently outdoor events are tough anyhow because you don't have
(12:19):
a finite area to secure. It's open and there's buildings,
and there's people, and you know, egress at adgress we're inside.
You don't have that. So I think down the road
you're going to see a lot less outside events because
it's so tough. Now, Charlie Kirk was not an elected representative,
(12:40):
He wasn't a president, you know, he wasn't an official.
So I think that they were thinking the security level,
you know, doesn't have to be that big because he's
just a guy that's talking on the campus. Well, you know,
the results weren't too good. So in my estimation, I
think if people are going to have outdoor events, they
(13:02):
need to ramp up. What the security is going to
be based on who the individual is and what they're talking.
So if you've got a guy or a girl that
is very controversial and tends to stir people up, you're
probably going to want to do a little bit more
security than a guy that is just you know, putting
on a concert and playing a guitar. Two different things.
(13:25):
But you know, the level that you ramp up to
is going to depend on what the event is, where
it's at, and whether you should move it indoors or not.
You know, it's tough. We we run into that, you know,
with the president down here, I think.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
The issue could end up being though if you move
it indoors. You know, this event tad I want to
say two to three thousand people according to the reports,
the one in Utah with Kirk, you can't get that
many people, you know, typically in an indoor situation.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Well you could if you've got like a stadium, you know,
like they're doing the the Turbini. I think they're going
to use a stadium Cardinals. You know that that's a
lot easier secure than you know, just an open venue.
At eighty thousand people, So you know, you could you
can find some venues that are a little bit more
(14:17):
easily secured.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
So because we're talking specifically, but let's let's look specifically
at Turning Point, USA, which you know says you know,
Erica Kirk, the Charlie's widow, has vowed that they're going
to keep doing their college tour. So they show up
at colleges, if they go inside a little auditorium, they're
not going to be able to get that that many people.
And this is a movement that doesn't look like it's
(14:40):
you know, if anything, it looks like it's growing, uh
since a week ago Wednesday. But but you're saying, like
a like a place like FAU for example, has a
football stadium, maybe they could do something like that how
many they sit? But I would imagine that's a.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Lot more easily secure than just a wide open area. Yeah,
I just you've got certain places of eager us at
Agress and of course you got the surrounding bleachers and everything.
It's you know, it's a lot easier to control that
that it is just a wide open area.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I know that it's been spoken that you know, people
would hate for the colleges to just say, you know what,
we're not doing this anymore. It's too dangerous because the
discourse I think is needed.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
That's you know, well, yeah, I mean you hate, you
hate to knock stuff off just because it's dangerous. But
I mean the reality of it is, you know, I
think you're going to see elected officials, regardless of whether
it's the president, right on down and do a lot
less outdoor and a lot more indoor.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
And you think that'll be immediate or do you think
that's allowed, that'll be coming in the coming.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I mean, you know, if we get somebody that's coming
here they say this is where we want to go,
we're going to say, well, that's not a really good idea.
Why don't you think about, you know, something that holds
a lot of people? But said doors, I mean it's
like the convention Center. You get a lot of people
in there.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Yeah, in fact, I think, yeah, my daughter graduated in there.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Oh yeah, you can get a lot of people. So
there's there's places that we could get a lot of
people that are so much easier to secure than outdoor venue.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Do you so let me go back to fau or
Len you know, do you typically are you asked by
the police at the school or the city to to
send deputies and help when when events like these happen.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
It depends on the event. You know, We've been down
there helping FAU when they had some very very big
football games that were championship game or something like that,
only because of the volume of people, not because there
was a danger or something. And it depends on the
threat level. I mean, usually i'd be with us. You know,
our analysts that are asside the Homeland Security are pretty
(16:46):
good at, you know, scouring the information that's out there
to see if there's any any chat about a threat
or possible threat levels with the organization that that may
be coming.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So and I just want, I want to pivot real quick.
And I didn't mention this to you, but mar Lago,
we just had this lady that claimed to be the
first lady. I don't know if you had heard about
this case.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Palm Beach police and the Secret Service were there, and
I know that you Sheriff's office also helps with security,
and you and I have talked about this before. Obviously,
the President's not there right now because it's summer, so
we'll start seeing him when it cools off a little more,
I guess. But you know there's a lady that showed
(17:33):
up and said, yeah, I'm his wife and I have
a delivery for him. And this was Tuesday this week,
and I guess she had been may attempted to get
through there a few times and was given a trespass
warning and now she's and now she's you know, been arrested.
I mean, it seems like these are more and more frequent.
(17:54):
But they have it locked up there, right, I mean
it's pretty pretty secure.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Yeah, just because he's not there doesn't mean that there's
not an appropriate number of people that are still securing
the place, right. And the reason is, you know, somebody
could go in there and plan a device, you know,
before he gets here, and then detonate the device after
he gets here. So you know, the place is just
not wide open where people can just walk all over
(18:21):
the place wherever they want to walk all over. I mean,
we're there, you know, along with the Secret Service and
most of the day through the night to make sure
that people just don't walk in there.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
And U Palm Beach Police also have officers there.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Yeah, they patrol a little bit, but the vast majority
of the security that's there is between us and the
Secret Service.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Okay, all right, let me talk about the budget. And
this has been this has been out there reported for
a few months, and you know, every time it's budget time,
some of the local media outlets, well we'll get in
there and talk about the sheriff's budget and oh my gosh,
why is it so high? And you asked for it
(19:07):
was reported as one point one billion. I guess it
was just above one billion. You can give me the
exact number in a second. But it is being called
a record amount for somebody that might say, you know, wow,
you know everything's more expensive now, and you know, why
are we paying so much for the sheriff's office. Go
ahead and explain.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
Well, I'll mean, look, I hear the same rhetoric every time.
You know, when it was nine hundred thousand, it was
a record. You know, when it was nine to eighty,
it's another record. The reality of it is is eighty
percent of your budget is personnel. So you know, when
they get a cola, which they get every year, and
there's more healthcare costs and there's more pension costs that
(19:52):
you have to pay for FRS it's going up. There's
nothing I can do about it. It's just like feed
the prisoners in the jail. You know, go to the
grocery store and you'll find out things are more expensive.
Well guess what, because are more expensive for me to
guard the prisoners in the jail. Healthcare is more expensive,
(20:13):
the food's more expensive, gas is more expensive. So you
know it's going to go up. I guess what. Next year,
it'll go up some more. And there's certain costs that
are uncontrollable that are going to make it go up.
But having said that, even the county commissioners that pass
(20:33):
the budget unanimously said the same thing. You know, the
job of the county and the cities are to provide
protection to the people that live in the city. That's
fire and police start with. Right, that's the most important things.
So you know, it's not like we're you know, expending
(20:54):
money on lavish things every day. You know, there's certain
things that are going to cost some money. We had
to replace some cars. We put off last year getting
some cars because we wanted to reduce the budget and
pushed it into this year. Well, if you've been to
the car dealership, guess what they're more expensive too, So
(21:14):
you know, regardless of whether you think it right or
not right, things go up, just like your personal budget.
So you know, we got it down. I ended up
covering like forty seven million out of it to get
it down like it was, and it did some things
we pushed into next year. But you know, that's the
(21:34):
cost of doing business. And guess what, two hundred and
ninety million of my budget is not even my responsibility.
It's the counties. It says in the state statue says
the county runs the jail, the county runs courthouse security,
the county runs the crime lab, and the county pays
for school crossing guards. They put all of that into
(21:57):
by budget and said would you run it? If I
said yeah, they said, good, we'll give you the money.
So it's a little disingenuous to say, oh, geez, the
sheriff's budget's so big when almost two hundred and ninety
million of it I could take out of it tomorrow,
give it back to the cow.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
And it is a It is an increase of one
hundred and sixteen million from the previous budget. This takes
effect what October first, Yeah, now, Blazingolia are the state's
new CFO. He joined us. I guess a month or
so ago whenever it was that he and the Florida
(22:36):
DOGE team Department of Government Efficiency for Florida. We're in
town and you know, one of the things that he
has said, because you know, some folks have said, oh,
if he makes everybody cut back, it's going to cost
I'm sure you've heard this, it's going to cost on safety,
fire and police. And he's actually said, no, that's one
thing I won't cut Did anybody from that team or
(22:56):
Angolia himself meet with you or your agency at all
when they were in town? And are there any concerns
that he could flag something? I mean, based on what
he's saying, I wouldn't assume so, but I wanted to ask.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
No, they didn't meet with us because they realized that
the money we're expending is for the safety of the community.
You know, we had a seventeen percent reduction in crime
last year's that's a lot. That's pretty that's pretty good.
I don't think anybody in the state had much higher that.
But it costs money to do that. But that's what
people pay for. They pay for their safety. And if
(23:32):
you feel comfortable going to the malls, going to the
grocery store, going down to the seven eleven, you know,
going to the county parks. So you know, it's not like,
you know, my budget. At the end of my budget
when I submitted, there's a paragraph that says, I swear
and you know, on you know, my hand in the air,
(23:53):
that this budget I'm submitted is what it cost me
to protect the citizens. Upon meach o. Nobody else has
at the end of their budget, but I'm required to
do that as a constitutional officer. So you know, I'm
swearing that this is what I need to protect you,
and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
Now I'm seeing did the county approve the entire budget
at this point or where I think two days ago
they were still holding workshops, right.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Yeah, the last one was this Tuesday. Yeah, and they
mid at five o'clock and they vote on my budget separately.
So when you say, hey, you know the sheriff is
fifty percent of the county's budget, that's not true. My
budget is separate from them. They have to take a
separate vote on my budget. That's in the state statute.
So they voted on my budget.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
There was seven zero, and that's an official vote. That's
a final vote.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
That's it.
Speaker 1 (24:48):
And then they still have to Then they still have
to I guess give the final vote to the rest
of the budget.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
No, they did that might also they vote on both
of them.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
Okay, oh, right after the tuesdays. Okay, all right. I
wanted to make sure that I got that straight. All right,
is there anything else? Do you have any any up
I'm you know, kind of off the top of your head,
any events that are coming up within the next couple
of months or anything you get any coffees with a
with a copp or or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Nope, we're just we're waiting for the big guy to
come back into town, respect them and later October, so
you know, we're trying of getting ourselves geared up for that.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Yeah, as I said, when it starts to cool off
a little bit, although I don't know October. October could
still be pretty pretty hot, but I guess it does.
It does cool off quite a bit in other areas,
so you know, he'll start he'll start making his uh,
he'll start making his trips here and then we'll hear
the stories about that too, So.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
No doubt, all right, anything else, No, that's good. Thanks
forgetting the information out.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Not never a problem, Sheriff Rick Bradshaw, Thank you for
always being available to us for protecting the Palm Beaches
here on w J and O and the Florida News
Network
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