During a recent appearance on The Morning Show with Preston Scott, Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil addressed current events and specifically addressed a national narrative that white police officers are indiscriminately killing black citizens.
On the protests, McNeil confirmed statements made by Tallahassee Police Chief Lawrence Revell earlier in the week related to agitators among protestors and the placement of material around town that could be used for violent purposes.
McNeil said that his officers did find materials “squirreled away.”
McNeil was also complementary of leaders of the protests who diverted attempts to turn the protests violent.
Scott asked McNeil about the ongoing narrative that white cops are singling out black citizens for brutality.
Scott stated, “I’m gonna ask you a very direct question….do you believe that white law enforcement officers in Leon County and Tallahassee single out blacks to harass or to target for brutality or to target to kill?”
Sheriff McNeil said, “No, no absolutely not…That is absurd.”
McNeil continued, “the fact of the matter is when you get bad cops they come in all races and colors and genders. Its the individual it’s not any group. I have been doing this for forty years. I have seen some great cops of all types and again Preston, this a profession I dedicated my life to..if that was the case I would not be in the profession I am in…..No its absurd. I don’t know who makes those kind of accusations. Its absolutely uncalled for and not backed up by any data or any research that would support that.”
McNeil also said, “I offer citizens to come and look at our use of force policy, but I have not been taken up by anybody I offer it to. You will find we do not have choke holds, we do not have situations where we are indiscriminately shooting people none of that is in our policies and none of our people, I can’t say none, but in a global sense only a fraction of our people are involved in that kind of behavior…What I hope happens is that we truly have a dialogue moving forward talking about how we police our community.”
Sheriff Walt McNeil Defends Local Law Enforcement added by Steve Stewart on
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Yes I used to live in Tallahassee way back then too around roughly thirteen years ago to when I would back then to in 2007/ to when I would then too I saw a lot of it then too thanks most sincerely to again Bradley Foss thanks!
both lcso and tpd have been way to relaxed to the terorrist blm. give them an inch and they will take a mile. look at these liberal democratic cities paying the price of dealing softly with the terorrist. it has been war from the beginning and should have been immediatedly stopped at any cost. lcso and tpd do your job and keep our roadways clear
Mr. Lyle, thank you from someone who has lived all over this great country and who as a second generation American is saddened by both the ever widening gap between both sides of our political parties and the rhetoric on both sides which tends to fuel this calamity (and possily worse) which Sheriff McNeil and others like him must deal with face-to-face daily to protect each and every one of us.
Tommy Mills is an idiot!. Walt is the best law enforcement executive we have ever had. Getting the clown Campbell out was a blessing for Leon County. TPD has never been as good as it was under McNeil. In other news, career race hustler and corrupt lawyer Chuck Hobbs has once again been suspended by the bar. Hobbs is a career offender and exploits the community with his incompetence and lies to clients. He should have been disbarred. Go to the Florida bar page and look at this clown.
Our Sheriff is a leftist.
All leftists lie.
Its an election year.
His answers to Preston are intentional and untruthful in his attempt to falsely paint himself as a centrist.
His answers would be quite different in a non election year.
More importantly than his bogus answers to Preston’s questions:
What did the ‘ole perve BBW lover do with Shonda? She was hired for Dave Teams position.
What’s Walt’s sugar baby doing for the department now? You all need to learn how to ask the questions we need answers to!!!
This is the first and probably the last time I will ever write a comment. I’m not on social media.
I don’t have a Facebook page. I have an email, cell phone and can text. That’s 3 tools I wish didn’t exist.
Technology has created a stage with a curtain, microphone, that people can stand on, hide behind, send messages around the world fueled by anger and hatred toward others who have different views.
There is no such thing as a civil conversation on social media.
There is no such thing as unbiased news channels.
Republicans have Fox News as their Bible.
Democrats have CNN as their Bible.
Each side believes they are the messiah that hold all the truth
The more hatred and anger grows the more dangerous the world becomes.
The play will not have a good ending.
Exactly why it is important that all candidates be given an equal chance and equal time.
The Leon County Sheriff’s Office had no role on the front line of the protests in Tallahassee.
Please don’t believe Sheriff McNeil was involved in these activities. The only role LCSO Deputies played was being stationed, out of sight and away from any activities, whe TPD held the line and interacted professionally with the protestors.
Sheriff McNeil, when it comes to Protests, just make sure your Officers are NOT Wimps. Your job is to Protect this Town. If any of the Protestors start Throwing objects and doing any kind of destruction, your Deputies need to move in and take them down using any amount of force as needed. The “PEACEFUL” Protestors should either move away or assist the Officers to show unity. I have seen to many Videos of the Protests around the Country and all the destruction they caused because the Officers were told NOT to engage them. Don’t allow that to happen here.
Are you kidding me?
You sound like a loyalist during the Revolution. “They destroyed my tea, my private property! Why won’t the redcoats put down the insurrection!”
I really always supported the sheriff till I wanted to know why the man who defrauded me who has a warrant has not been arrested
I called ten times to the duty officer who blew me off
I sent a copy of the warrant they blew me off he is still laughing free
Too late, girlfriend.
They’re all too busy now looking for mask scofflaws.
The Maven spent the day shopping in wide-open Thomasville, dropping some serious sales tax revenue on the local businesses. Money the Leon County Kommissars will never get the opportunity to waste on self-dealing, hah!
Joanna Johnson,
Tommy Mills for Sheriff!
Hope, Tommy Mills is a really nice guy. I have spoken with him many times. He is Sheriff material.
I will say this. Tommy has been at LCSO for a very long time, under Boone, Campbell, and McNeil. I know he has run against 2 of his bosses while maintaining employment at LCSO. Good for him. Take that for what it is worth, but locally if you are employed by the school system as principle, senior staff, etc., it seems you can run for school superintendent, make a marginal showing, be defeated and take a a nice position from Rocky (or jackie) as long as you don’t rock the boat. The same is true at the Leon County Sheriff’s Office.
I do not believe that Tommy has a chance. No more that Ricky Bell was ever going to be school superintendent or any of the myriad of candidates who have thrown their hat in the ring against Coach Hanna or with marginal support from the shadowy HAH, HAH LLC, HAH II, HAHIII.
Tommy Mills is missing one big thing, Sean Pittman and all the weight Sean Pittman and The Edison restaurant gang carry.
peace
Sheriff McNeil, I applaud you Sir and beg you to be heard on a National Level, for what you have Said here! You Sir a representative of our Great Law Enforcement Agencies that have a hard enough time doing their jobs with the adverse attitudes of some of Americans mislead and misguided Democratic which I prefer to call them DemonicCrats/DemonicCreeps! They are a debased lot of perverse individuals that are criminal and Demonic in their nature and supported by money from Far left Radical Communistic Haters of the American way of Life!! May my Lord and Savior Jesus Bless you and protect you via his Comforter the Holy Spirit keeping you and your Family and your officers safe and always mindful of their Sacrifice and service that I am so thankful for! I wish you were my Sheriff rather than this DemonicCreep that we have here in Bainbridge!!
The people screaming racism do not want a dialogue. They want a pulpit.
An Inconvenient Truth:
It is not Law Enforcement that needs to be reformed or re-imagined. Indeed there are process and procedures that need to be adjusted or tweaked as time progresses. But what Law Enforcement is in most need of… is to be followed and respected. “Law and Order” is the very foundation of a civil society. What we are witnessing today from this Democrat-financed anarchy is the complete antithesis of that.
It is the black community and culture that needs to be reformed and redirected. The black community needs to return to its core belief in family and the family unit, and also to be redirected back to its long history of faith and belief in Christ. For far too long, far too many within the black community have surrendered their individualism, and have allowed themselves to become wards of the state. They have been fed the lies of “systemic racism” and “government dependence” by Democrat and Republican politicians (white, black, or otherwise) and the Media conglomerates. Man does not give your your rights nor your standing in life. Your rights are inalienable and come from God… and your standing in life is completely in your control… no matter the color of your skin. As Dr. King so wisely proclaimed… it is “the content of your character” that matters, not the “color of your skin”.
Will TR give candidate for Leon County Sheriff Tommy Mills equal time?
There needs to be a dialogue about why the Leon County Sheriff, Walt McNeil, gave LCSO funds to his campaign manager, Sean Pittman, under the guise of a lobbying contract.
Why would TR give Mills “Equal Time”, this is not a Campaign piece? As far as the other stuff you mentioned, that’s a whole different issue and has nothing to do with this article, maybe you can bring that up during one of the Debates and get an answer.
Tony baloney,
Sometimes people think they know it all and say too much and should be quiet and this is one of those times. You are not a know-it-all so less is more.
Most of your screeds are ridiculous and this is one of them.
This is campaign season and of course the other candidates should be given equal time if not they are no better than The Usual Suspects.
Preston Scott is a terrible judge of law enforcement as he promoted the worst sheriff in America and then would say that the sheriff paid for his lunch. No one listens to Preston anymore but it probably had $1000000 10th reason why crime became number one in Tallahassee in Florida.
Mr. Mill’s deserves equal time and while we’re at it what did Sheriff McNeil do for Harry Brown? Did he jump on the bandwagon to help him or did he turn his back on Mr Harry Brown a veteran that regularly criticized Scott Maddox? Guess what Harry Brown was right and a lot of people owe him an apology and a lot of money so sit down and be quiet and think before you speak next time, Mr Tony.
I stand by what I said, this is NOT a Campaign article and your post had nothing do with the article. So go ahead and have your melt down and My post was not an Attack on you but I see you went there and that tells me a lot about you, and WHAT is a Screed?
Is that true?
The depth of your racial ignorance and insensitivity can only be described as an abyss. You can dress up your racism as religious values to deny your own racism all you want but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…IT’S RACISM. You sir are part of the problem, a big part.
Your close-minded, ill-educated, and angry retort simply servers to prove that a reasonable conversation and/or debate over the facts is near impossible. Hate shall never lead to a solution.
Furthermore, and as a person of color, I find your lack of understanding of the real issues that have been damaging, and continue to plague, the black community to be insulting and capricious.
I shall pray for your dark heart, and wish you well.
Cultural reform is not a racial issue. The breakdown of core beliefs – respect for law and order, family values, and strong work ethics – has long been a major issue among our younger generations (black, white, or otherwise) that has led to a lifestyle of “take care of me.” The government’s good intentions to help families in need back in the Depression era lead to the propagation a future Generations that knew no other way of life. The criteria for receiving this government help was that the father could not be in the household. He was not eligible along with the family for these programs. He had to go. Out went the family unit! Without a strong, respectful figure in the home, parents lost control of their children. Dependence and disrespect took over. In my opinion, what is needed most is to re-educate our children about how precious they are, how to respect not only others but themselves, as well, and to encourage them into believing that they hold the future in their hands. Their decisions dictate their future. They can do right or they can do wrong. The benefits or consequences are not only on them, but on all of us.