BSO Sheriff Tony fires biggest critic, says union prez used scare tactics during pandemic

Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony fired longtime nemesis and police union President Jeff Bell Thursday, after an oversight board agreed that the sheriff’s most vocal critic misled media outlets about deputies not being offered enough protective gear during the pandemic.

In a prepared statement, Tony accused Bell of using “corrupt practices” to try and prevent him from being elected more than a year after his appointment by the governor. The sheriff said he only acted after the oversight board voted unanimously to recommend the union president’s termination.

Bell provided “misinformation and lies to the media to create fear and distrust among BSO employees and within the community during a global pandemic,” Tony said. He called the behavior of the union president, “egregious at any time but even more harmful and shameful during an unprecedented health crisis.”

Bell, who has been on suspension since April 2020 but has continued as president of the Broward Sheriff’s Deputies Association, fired back, saying his termination was the fulfillment of a personal vendetta against him from the sheriff. He also said he’s entertaining a few options, most of which would require court battles.

“He’s the person who failed miserably during the pandemic. We brought those deficiencies to light,” Bell said. “At the end of the day, the sheriff can’t stand me. This is personal for him.”

Bell, 51, has been with BSO for 26 years and has served as the president of the union since 2015. He’s already entered into a deferred compensation program leading to his retirement. With the firing he loses his salary of about $110,000 a year and benefits. He said he has no intention of giving up his job as union president.

Bell said one of his options is to petition in state court. After appealing his suspension, the governor-appointed Public Employees Relations Commission ordered Bell back to work in the summer of 2021. They called the suspension “retaliatory” and said Bell’s statements were protected union speech. Tony and BSO appealed that order to the First District Court of Appeals and in October the sheriff was granted a stay. Another option, Bell said, is to go to federal court and argue for damages.

“Of course I want my job back,” he said. “It was a criminal’s decision to terminate me.”

The relationship between Bell and Tony’ soured almost from the start — as the sheriff opened investigations, fired and suspended deputies not long after being appointed sheriff by Gov. Ron DeSantis in January of 2019. The governor named Tony to replace Sheriff Scott Israel in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School tragedy.

By April of 2020, Tony had enough of the union president’s constant jabs. When Bell came out early in the pandemic and accused Tony of failing to lead by not supplying officers with enough protective equipment, Tony suspended him. The sheriff was also angered by a letter written by Bell to union members in which he alluded to Deputy Shannon Bennett, who lost an early battle to the disease.

The suspension didn’t do much to slow down Bell, who continued to collect his salary and work from home.

By May of 2020, a series of text messages and IA documents indicated Bell and the union were driving forces behind a particularly nasty and personal Democratic primary fight that pitted Tony against his predecessor Israel, whom DeSantis had removed from office.

Shortly before the primary, which Tony won, the union had a vote of no confidence for the sheriff. Bell and the union were also blamed for uncovering a document that showed Tony, as a teenager, had killed a man outside his Philadelphia home.

On Thursday, Tony said he moved to fire Bell after BSO’s Professional Standards Committee studied the findings of an Internal Affairs investigation and agreed with the sheriff that Bell should be terminated. The committee is an oversight board that Tony overhauled two years ago, even handpicking its new director.

BSO also released a 200-page Internal Affairs report countering dozens of media stories in which Bell is quoted discussing a supply shortage that he mostly blamed on leadership. The sheriff accused him of “creating fear and distrust” among BSO employees and the community.

The report doesn’t reach any conclusions, but includes a lengthy statement by Tony in which the sheriff says he noticed a change in the union president shortly after a series of firings and demotions of deputies for use-of-force instances. The sheriff said Bell’s attacks on him escalated to the point that Bell began to scare the public with his statements.

In his lengthy statement to Internal Affairs, the sheriff said he had to reassure major media outlets like CNN, law enforcement district offices and fire rescue that BSO had enough protective equipment to keep deputies safe during the pandemic.

“Bell’s public statements, as head of a union of approximately 1,400 deputy sheriffs, created a false narrative to the union members, as well as other BSO employees, that the agency was not prepared,” the sheriff told investigators. “This impacts employees’ trust in me and my administration and decreases morale.”