Sheriff's Office complaints in Newberry resolved

Complaints that surfaced last summer related to Alachua County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) patrols in Newberry have been resolved, an ACSO public relations officer said.

Art Forgey reports there was nothing filed after the harassment complaints made last July about the methods of patrolling NW 252^nd Street. The ACSO internal affairs staff spent several weeks in an office provided in Newberry City Hall in order to respond to any reports of harassment, but none were filed.

“You can’t just walk in the theater and yell ‘fire’ if there isn’t one,” Forgey said.

He said a probable reason for the complaints was because people were getting caught committing crimes, and “no one likes to get caught.”

“People get arrested and they get upset,” Forgey said. “It’s easy to point the finger at public officials.”

He said the sheriff’s office is happy there have been no substantiated complaints since they set up the office in City Hall.

“If there is an issue, we want to be the first to correct it,” he said. “But in this instance there have been no reports to address.”

Though Forgey could not detail the methods of patrolling used, he said it has not changed since the complaints were lodged in the summer.

City manager Keith Ashby said he believes the citizens of Newberry were satisfied with the “very community-oriented approach” the sheriff’s office used to deal with the harassment complaints.

“There has been no negative feedback,” Ashby said, “any previous issues seem to be resolved.”

Ashby said the office space is available for ACSO “whenever they want to use it.”

Sheriff Sadie Darnell said, while reviewing the past year at the commission meeting on Feb. 28, that the area “continues to be a source for concern regarding drug activity” but the July complaints were noted and resolved after she addressed the commission in July.

“We are not going to always please everyone, but we’re certainly going to try,” Darnell said.