Week In Review
This week, I announced the creation of the Cyber Fraud Enforcement Unit to combat cybercrime in Florida. The unit includes criminal and civil attorneys within my office who work with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies to help solve online criminal…
This week, I announced the launch of the Hallway Heroes initiative ahead of the upcoming academic school year.
As the mother of a school-aged child, summers seem to fly by and we’re already preparing for the Fall. Our school resource officers and deputies are a vital part of our schools…This week, my office and the Federal Trade Commission sent more than $540,000 to consumers who fell victim to an illegal robocall scheme, including nearly $50,000 going directly to Floridians.
This is the result of successful joint litigation by my office and the FTC against Life…This week, I visited the Margate Police Department in South Florida to present a Back the Blue Award to Detective Julio Fernandez for his dogged investigative work in solving multiple cold cases.
Det. Fernandez is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and has served in law enforcement for 22 years.…This week, I issued a Consumer Alert warning Floridians about a rising trend in jury duty scams.
In these scams, an imposter will call a target claiming that they missed jury duty and will be arrested if they do not pay a fine immediately.
Potential victims can be understandably…This week, I continued our Thin Line Tribute: Sunshine Salute Series in Pinellas County to show appreciation for law enforcement officers who moved to be Florida heroes.
Since last July, Florida’s law enforcement ranks grew by more than 2,000, with 595 being new out-of-state recruits.…This week, with Florida students now out of school, we launched Idle Time: A Summer Safety Series to help parents protect children from summer-related threats. If you're a parent like me, you're excited to have your children home for the summer, but worried about their safety during…
In recognition of the beginning of hurricane season, we released our 2023 Hurricane Preparedness Guide. The guide is filled with tips and information to help Floridians prepare for a storm strike—or any scams that could arise before, during or in the aftermath.
The release comes after a…This holiday weekend will mark the beginning of the 100 Deadliest Days—the time period between Memorial Day and Labor Day when accidents caused by teen drivers increase significantly.
With the academic year in Florida coming to an end, kids will have more free time on their hands—for teens…This week, in recognition of National Police Week, we launched a new Thin Line Tribute series called Sunshine Salute. The series focuses on out-of-state law enforcement officers who moved here to be a Florida hero.
To launch this new series, I stopped by the St. Petersburg College…This week, we recognized National Fentanyl Awareness Day by joining law enforcement leaders and other first responders in Clearwater to launch a new program to help fight the opioid crisis and save lives.
Our new initiative, Helping Heroes, will provide free naloxone to law enforcement,…This week, I presented a Back the Blue Award to a brave Orlando firefighter who saved the life of a Seminole County Deputy. Orlando Fire Department Lieutenant Ben Wootson was off-duty and driving his son to soccer practice on a Saturday morning in March, when he saw that a Seminole County…
This week, we released Scams at a Glance: Sink or Swim to help Floridians avoid pool-contractor scams. With summer approaching, many Floridians may try to beat the heat with a new pool. However, inground pools are expensive home-improvement projects, and if a consumer is not careful, thousands…
This week, I helped launch the Florida Law Enforcement Virtual Job Fair with the Florida Sheriffs Association and Florida Police Chiefs Association. This nationwide recruitment event aimed to bring in officers from across the nation to serve in a state that backs the blue. Florida is the most…
This week, we concluded the final installment of our Tax-Season Scams Series, highlighting a drastic increase in reports to the Internal Revenue Service about suspicious activity—a 300% increase from 2021 to 2022. We created this series to help protect Florida taxpayers from this alarming…
This week, I traveled to Sarasota County to issue a public safety alert about a deadly animal tranquilizer known as xylazine that is killing Floridians. Sarasota is experiencing an increased number of deaths due to abuse of this drug, so I joined local and state law enforcement to issue a…
This week, I urged the Drug Enforcement Administration to follow Florida’s lead and place xylazine, also known as tranq, on the federal Schedule I list of banned substances. Xylazine, like fentanyl, is dangerous on its own. It can also be mixed with other drugs enhancing its lethality. In fact,…
This week, in recognition of Women’s History Month, I presented a Florida Cabinet resolution to the Florida Police Chiefs Association highlighting the record number of female police chiefs leading departments in our state. Florida now has a record 20 female chiefs—10 of whom are the first women…
This week, I issued a warning for spring breakers about the extremely dangerous threat of deadly synthetic opioids, like fentanyl, and other illicit substances. Fentanyl is being mixed with more common drugs and counterfeit pills. These deadly mixtures are often sold to unsuspecting users—often…
As National Consumer Protection Week comes to an end, I want to remind Floridians how important it is to watch out for new and emerging scams. My Consumer Protection Division works hard every day to protect Floridians and put an end to scams and deceptive business practices. Since 2019, we have…