Florida Polk County Red Neck Grady Judd On Hurricane Irma Poem by James McLain

Irma: Florida sheriff threatens jail for anyone with outstanding warrants seeking shelter
By Rachel Siegel September 7 at 2: 30 AM

Florida sheriff threatens to arrest people with warrants at Irma shelters


The Polk County Sheriff's Department in Florida announced it would not allow sex offenders or people with warrants to stay in shelters during Hurricane Irma. (Amber Ferguson/The Washington Post)
Beneath a graying sky that foreshadowed the hurricane to come, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd shrugged.

'Never before did I think that we'd be beat up for giving people a warning and keeping people safe, ' he told local television crews. 'But hey, that's okay.'

He was referring to criticism that followed a string of tweets from his office Wednesday morning saying that anyone with an outstanding warrant would not be admitted to shelters during Hurricane Irma. Though some of the tweets singled out sexual offenders and predators, others said all people with warrants would be better off turning themselves into a secure space of a different kind — jail.

'If you go to a shelter for #Irma, be advised: sworn LEOs will be at every shelter, checking IDs. Sex offenders/predators will not be allowed, ' read one tweet, using an acronym for 'law enforcement officers.' The thread came from the Polk County Sheriff's Twitter account, which uses a photo of Judd.

'If you go to a shelter for #Irma and you have a warrant, we'll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail, ' read another tweet, which received more than 7,800 likes. It had also garnered more than 7,800 replies by early Thursday morning, largely from users chastising Judd for potentially endangering people with warrants as a Category 5 hurricane ripped through the Caribbean and beamed toward Florida.