Demings Adamantly Disputes Tegg Claims

In a hastily called press briefing on Wednesday afternoon, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings strongly refuted the claim made by his challenger John Tegg, that OCSO is deliberately understating burglary crime statistics.

Tegg said earlier today that, the under-reporting of crime stats by the Sheriff’s Office, is to give Demings a political advantage in the November 6th election.

But Demings had harsh words for Tegg and his supporters, noting that the issue is a manufactured one.

“No one in this room wants the numbers reported as accurately, more than I do,” said Demings. “… He (John Tegg) should be ashamed for wasting the valuable time of the courts and wasting taxpayer dollars for his own selfish political gains.”

On August 16, earlier this year, a local group filed a lawsuit alleging the Orange County Sheriff’s Office failed to produce public records in a timely manner and claimed under-reporting of burglaries. But, the lawsuit was later dropped by the group.

“Voters in Orange County should know that I have never asked any of my deputies to mis-represent crime statistics,” Demings said. “There is absolutely no validity to what Tegg is saying. John Tegg is simply not telling the truth.”

Demings said he had requested the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as the current State Attorney’s Office to review how crime is being documented and reported.

FDLE had earlier confirmed that, the OCSO crime statistics were in fact being reported correctly, a finding Tegg has rejected saying, the determination had been made by a FDLE analyst and wasn’t a legal opinion. He has requested through the Governor’s office a full investigation by the Department.

Demings also brushed aside former two-term Brevard County Sheriff and Assistant State Attorney, Phil Williams’ opinion on the crime reports, calling it “highly suspicious.” He added that Williams had previously worked at OCSO and never raised any concerns regarding how burglaries and thefts, among others crimes, are classified.

He said Tegg had resorted to such tactics in the past and was making these claims regarding the under-reporting of crime stats in an effort to win an election.

“Now that we are thirteen days out and realizing he is heading for another drumming he is doing it again,” he said.

“We run a transparent operation here,” Demings concluded.