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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nSoon afterward, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno<\/a> stood on the man\u2019s driveway in combat gear for a news conference while the suspect went to the jailhouse that the sheriff likes to call the \u201cMarceno Motel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe\u2019s an oxygen-stealer and a scumbag, and I\u2019m glad he\u2019s outta here,\u201d Marceno told reporters. \u201cI\u2019m proud to say that in this county if you present deadly physical force \u2026 we meet you with deadly force every time, and we win. It\u2019s pretty clean, pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Sunshine State has become internationally notorious for the oddball miscreants who populate its police blotters and local news reports \u2014 known collectively as Florida Man. There are murders and mayhem, like anyplace else, and then there are the only-in-Florida incidents like the man charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing an alligator through a Wendy\u2019s drive-thru window<\/a> in Palm Beach County in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But an equally eccentric cast of hard-boiled sheriffs makes a career of going after these guys. Florida Man, meet Florida Sheriff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All but one of Florida\u2019s 67 counties have an elected sheriff, and they wield enormous influence in part because they\u2019re often the only countywide elected official. They head agencies that typically patrol unincorporated portions of their county but also provide backup to city police departments and sometimes patrol small cities that lack their own force. Many, like Marceno, hold made-for-YouTube news conferences and use TikTok and other social media<\/a> \u2014 frequently going just as viral as the perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over in central Florida is, perhaps, the highest-profile enemy of Florida Man (and Florida Woman).<\/p>\n\n\n Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who constantly targets gangs, drug dealers, and prostitution rings in his folksy Southern drawl, has been a frequent hit on TV since he was first elected with no party affiliation in 2005. Judd says\u00a0of school shooters<\/a>: \u201cWe\u2019re going to shoot you graveyard dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also has praised homeowners for firing on intruders, including one last December: \u201cHe gave him an early Christmas present. Only Santa Claus gets to come in your house,\u201d Judd told a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judd often refers to the Polk County Jail as the \u201cPolk Pokey,\u201d and last holiday season, his office sold their version of the popular Elf on the Shelf doll, dubbed Sheriff on a Shelf<\/a>, and he personally autographed Sheriff Judd bobbleheads<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Screenshot-2-2.png\")
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