Polk County Sheriff’s Office

One of the organizations that organize and sponsor these trainings is the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA). JINSA is a think tank that advocates for US-Israeli security cooperation, increased domestic military spending, and military aid to Israel, and has board members with close ties to US defense contractors. JINSA launched its Law Enforcement Exchange Program (LEEP) shortly after 9/11, and since 2002 has run annual trips to Israel for US federal, state, and local law enforcement. Over 11,000 additional American law enforcement officials have attended LEEP conferences nationwide, which bring in Israeli security officials as experts.

The Sheriff’s Office of Polk County, Florida, is among the departments that have sent delegates to Israel. Grady Judd has served as Sheriff of Polk County since 2004. Sheriff Judd attended a training in Israel with JINSA as a delegate of the LEEP program in June 2011. He has served as the President of the Major County Sheriffs of America since 2018.

His Sentinel Program screens staff at a University and deputizes them, and believes they should be allowed to carry a gun. At one point, he referred to a young teenager as a “thug”, a traditional dog-whistle for the ‘n-word.’ An article criticizes a tweet that he sent in which he suggested those with a warrant in his county should not seek shelter during a hurricane unless they want to be arrested:

[Excerpt] Polk County Sheriff tweets: If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, well gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail. If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs [Law Enforcement Officers] will be at every shelter checking IDs. ~ Sheriff Grady Judd

In an article published on Judd and the “New Jim Crow in Polk County,” he was criticized for justifying 68 shots to kill a suspect, saying the reason they shot him 68 times is because they ran out of bullets. In an article on Arpaios pardon by Trump, Judd is mentioned and quoted saying that he supported Trumps pardon of Joe Arpaio, minimizing the multiple constitutional violations under his leadership.