A silent war is underway within Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office, and County Commission Chairman Colten Wright is accused of working behind the scenes to drag a retired deputy into the drama, which escalated into a showdown during today’s commisison meeting.
The tension within SRSO started escalating last year after discussions over who might get appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis if Sheriff Bob Johnson, who is roughly a year into his third four-year term, retires early.
A complaint was filed by one member of the command staff against another, resulting in a couple months of paid leave for two deputies while Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office looked into the allegations, which seemingly resulted in a nothing burger for the duo.
However, that complaint seemingly triggered an anonymously written letter, outlining about six concerns with the current SRSO admin, including the aforementioned complainant. That letter was shared with local and state officials and has since been brought to center stage by the warring factions.
During public forum at the Dec. 11 commission meeting, retired SRSO Sgt. Rickie Cotton read aloud some of the accusations against SRSO which had been included in that anonymous letter.
Sheriff Bob Johnson fired back on Dec. 15; however, he did so on a Pensacola news radio station, so many Santa Rosans were unaware of it. During that broadcast, Johnson took aim at Cotton, expressing hope his former deputy would attend a January commission meeting. “I would love to embarass him in front of everybody,” Johnson said.
Today Johnson followed through with that threat, making an official agenda presentation to commissioners, spilling the beans on Cotton’s discipline during his 32 years of service with SRSO.
During his presentation, Johnson said about half of his agency supports Tifft to replace him and about half support someone else, whom Johnson refused to identify when asked by District 2 Commissioner Kerry Smith. That someone else is recently retired SRSO Major Roman Jackson, who was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot in the line of duty back in 2005. Jackson has accepted the Chief of Police position at the University of West Florida.
Also during today’s presentation, Johnson suggested twice that Cotton might run for Sheriff.
So I called Rickie, who said, “No, I will not run for Sheriff.”
But that’s not all he had to say…
Cotton believes Chairman Wright set him up, explaining he was asked to read that anonymous letter into the record during a November commission meeting but couldn’t make that meeting. Subsequently, that’s why he showed up at the December meeting.
Cotton went on to say that ahead of the December meeting, Wright provided him with a hard copy of that three-page letter, highlighting the parts to read into the record. Cotton went on to say he & Wright had planned to meet up behind the commission’s admin office but Wright got worried someone might see them and directed him to instead meet up at nearby Harbor Freight.
During today’s meeting, Wright told Johnson he had been contacted by about three dozen deputies who shared concerns with the agency, which has around 382 sworn deputies, adding up to about 10 percent.
What a mess! I wish Johnson would go ahead and step down. The vengefulness he exhibited toward Cotton was petty and extremely unprofessional. It was also misdirected, considering Cotton was allegedly just doing a favor for the BOCC by reading parts of the letter publicly.
Johnson can time his departure in such a way that a special election could take place during this year’s election cycle. If he drags it out, the Governor will need to make an appointment for someone to serve as Interim Sheriff until a new one is elected. I believe the threshhold for that is 28 months – but could be wrong.
There have been some suggestions that retired SRSO Chief Deputy Keith Morris, who served during Wendall Hall’s administration, is being suggested for an appointment – if such becomes necessary. Morris is an outstanding administrator, and I don’t believe he would waste time on any drama or vengefulness.
Former Florida Senator Doug Broxson would also make a great appointee, but he’s a relative whom I greatly admire, so that’s just my wishful thinking, considering his brother, mom and dad served as Santa Rosa Sheriff.
Anyway, let’s hope this infighting subsides until Tifft and Jackson (and potentially other candidates) eventually face off at the polls.
