Historic Moment: Broward Sheriff Dr. Gregory Tony Sworn in for a Landmark Second Term – What’s Next for His Leadership?

The 17th sheriff of Broward County, Dr. Gregory Tony, was re-elected in November and is taking the oath of office for a second term. After Scott Israel, the previous sheriff, was found to have handled the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in February 2018 improperly, the Florida Senate upheld the appointment of Tony, a Democrat, as sheriff in 2019. The Broward Sheriff’s Office website states that the sheriff started working as a police officer in 2005, initially with the Coral Springs Police Department. He spent five years as a member of the SWAT team and became a sergeant during his service. Additionally, he held positions in field force, street intelligence, burglary apprehension, and drug detectives.

Sheriff Dr. Tony left the Coral Springs Police Department in 2016 to launch Blue Spear Solutions because he was passionate about serving others and was acutely aware of the many active shooter instances that were happening both domestically and internationally. The security company specializes in offering threat assessments and active shooter and mass tragedy training to the public and private sectors. According to his biography, the training platform is being used by thousands of people worldwide. Then, in 2019, he became a sheriff with BSO. According to the website, he is giving priority to intelligence-led policing, enhanced training, and advanced community-oriented policing projects.

With 5,800 staff members, including over 2,700 licensed deputies and over 700 fire rescue experts, the Broward Sheriff’s Office is the biggest in Florida. The department spends around $1 billion a year on operations. Serving over one-third of the county, BSO offers full-time law enforcement services in 14 Broward cities and municipalities as well as all of its unincorporated areas. According to a 2022 report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Tony lied on his police applications on multiple occasions, including not disclosing that he had shot another kid dead during a brawl when he was 14. Although Tony was ultimately found not guilty and to have acted in self-defense, the applications demanded that all arrests be disclosed regardless of the court’s ruling.

Because the false statements were made so long ago that the statue of limitations had passed, the FDLE stated that Tony could not face criminal charges. According to the investigation, Tony honestly stated that he had used LSD as a teenager in 2003 when he applied for his first law enforcement job with the Tallahassee Police Department. Investigators discovered that Tony responded “no” to questions about his history of handling or using hallucinogenic drugs on later police applications after that revelation led to his rejection.

According to investigators, Tony also consistently answered “no” when asked if his license had ever been suspended on police and Florida driver’s license applications. In 1996, Pennsylvania suspended his license due to nonpayment of traffic citations. He last applied for a new license in 2019, not long after he was appointed sheriff. Due to claims that Tony had lied on his driver’s license applications, the FDLE recommended in April of this year that his law enforcement certification be suspended for six months.

An administrative law court ruled in May that Tony should be put on 18 months of “probationary status,” receive a written reprimand, and undergo ethics training. The Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission will review the judge’s ruling and make a final determination. For his part, Tony has concentrated on the projects he has carried out while serving as sheriff. They involve “a state-of-the-art Real Time Crime Center and Threat Management Division allowing for enhanced school safety, the building of a new Research, Development, and Training Center, created strict policies and practices to ensure transparency and accountability, established varying degrees of community policing models throughout our county,” according to his campaign’s website.