Sarasota County Sheriff Bill Balkwill is closing the South County Jail.
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"While the closing of the South County Intake Facility will adversely affect the cities of Venice and North Port, it will have an even greater negative impact on our own agency's District 3 Law Enforcement Bureau," Balkwill wrote.
David Gustafson, retired from the sheriff's office since 2001 and now a candidate to replace Balkwill, was "dumbfounded" by the announcement.
"I couldn't believe Balkwill," Gustafson said. "I would not close the facility down. You can't have the officers off the road. (Without the facility), they're going to be off the road four to five hours, going to Sarasota to process arrests. You can't do that to the public. And you can't do that to the Venice and North Port police."
Anyone else think this is a bad idea?
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South Sarasota County Jail to Close
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