LAKELAND, Fla. — A grass-roots organization in Polk County called PEACE is calling on the sheriff’s office to provide a pre-arrest diversion option to more people being arrested for what they call minor offenses.

What You Need To Know

  • PEACE says more than 1,000 people were arrested that qualified for pre-arrest diversion

  • But according to them, only 120 got that option

  • Yet Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd says criminals abuse the system and he explains why

In 2019, PEACE says more than 1,000 people were arrested that qualified for pre-arrest diversion, while only around 120 actually got that option.

"I was working at a medical facility, and in my scrubs about one mile away from where I was, I got pulled over,” said Briana Silveira, a former Polk County resident who says she had no idea she was driving on a suspended license.

Silveira says she thought she had resolved an unpaid traffic citation, but the DMV did not re-instate her license.

She didn’t realize what had happened until she was in jail.

“The officer doesn't even come out of their car, just like on a bull horn and is telling me to come out,” Silveira said.  “I have no idea why I was being pulled over, I am panicking at this point."

PEACE says arrests for a minor offense can cost people thousands of dollars and time in jail, when the county has a program to help those guilty of minor or misdemeanor offenses.

Silveira says her arrest and license issues cost her $5,000, forcing her to move in with family for a couple years until all the fees and fines were paid.

But the problem with wide-scale diversion, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, is that criminals abuse the system.

“PEACE just needs to get over it,” said Judd.  “I am not buying in to that national agenda."

Judd says he gives his deputies wide discretion in determining when pre-arrest diversion is an option, but those instances only include first time specific, minor offenses.

“The areas of the state and the nation that have those across the board blanket adult diversions have a higher crime rate,” Judd said. “If you don't hold people accountable and responsible, they will commit crime."

Polk County PEACE says although the county has a pre-arrest diversion program, it is only given as an option to around one in 10 people arrested for minor offenses.