WATCH: Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey Announces Run for Fourth Term, ‘Brevard County is One of the Safest Places in the Country to Live’

first elected in 2012, won reelection in 2016 and 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE: Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey released a video announcement via social media that he will run for a fourth term as Brevard County Sheriff. CLICK HERE to see the video, and below is a transcript of Sheriff Ivey’s announcement. He was first elected in 2012, and won reelection in 2016 and 2020.

---

I want to personally thank you for allowing me to serve as your Brevard County Sheriff for the past ten and a half years. By allowing me to serve as your sheriff you have given me the honor to work alongside the 1,700 amazing men and women of our agency who work hard each and every day to keep our community safe. Men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our community with pride, honor, and professionalism.

Your Brevard County Deputies love their community and they are honored to work in a community where our citizens love us, trust us, and protect us just as much as we love, trust, and protect them. Together we are making a difference and are a model for other communities to follow to keep their citizens safe and sound.

In addition to allowing me to wear the same uniform as these brave men and women, you have also given me the opportunity to develop a unique partnership with our citizens to make certain that Brevard County is one of the safest places in the country to live, work, play, and raise a family.

When I first ran for and was elected to the office of Sheriff in 2012, we set an immediate goal to develop a partnership with our citizens, by understanding that “it takes a community to protect a community!”

Our first goal was to partner together so that we could lower our crime rate, and boy did it work as our crime rate in the past 10 years has drastically dropped by 52 percent. In fact, as a result of our collective efforts, last year, our community had fewer victims of crime than any time in the past 45 years.

That’s an amazing accomplishment when you consider that our population has increased significantly, yet our crime rate has rapidly declined. I am often asked what our secret is to lowering our crime rate and that answer is simple, crime will rise to the level a community will tolerate and in Brevard County we have zero tolerance for crime.

To be honest, the answer to lowering our crime rate is no secret at all, instead it’s as simple as we are tough on crime and even tougher on criminals. We lowered our crime rate by taking a multi-pronged approach.

First, we developed an amazing partnership with our citizens who are the true stake holders in the safety of our community. And then, we never lost sight of the fact that you lower the crime rate by preventing crimes and not just solving them. Now don’t get me wrong, solving crimes is vital to lowering our crime rate, but our approach and goal has always been, to prevent crime so that you our citizens don’t become crime’s next victim.

Our goal was to engage our citizens in the prevention and solving of crime so that instead of having an agency of 1,700, we have a force-multiplier of over 600,000.
Six hundred thousand citizens who truly understand the importance of “if you see something, say something.”

The results were immediate, as each year we have seen our crime rate drop significantly and I am extremely confident that this coming year will be no different.

Our model and approach to Community Relations and Crime Prevention has been so successful that our Crime Prevention Unit earned the honor of being named the State of Florida’s, Crime Prevention Unit of the Year by the Florida Crime Prevention Association.

In addition, I was honored to receive on two separate occasions, the Florida Crime Prevention Association’s “President’s Award” for our outstanding approach and commitment to Crime Prevention and Awareness.

While lowering the Crime Rate was an amazing goal and we are blessed to have been so successful, it wasn’t enough for us, as our next goals and challenges were to make sure we had the safest schools in the country, the safest port in the country and on top of that, to forever change the lives of homeless pets in our community by taking over animal services.

In 2014 the Brevard Public Schools asked our agency to take over District School Security which we gladly did and as such, I am extremely proud to say that our team has made certain that our students, teachers, parents, and schools themselves, are among the safest in the country.

From adding a significant number of School Resource Deputies to our schools, to ensuring our Deputies have every immediate tool they need to protect our campuses, our team has created a safe environment for our children to learn, our teachers to teach, and our parents to take solace, in knowing their children are safe.

Also in 2014 we assumed all law enforcement responsibilities for Port Canaveral which has now grown to become the busiest passenger cruise port in the country. From keeping passengers and crew safe to ensuring that everyone who visits our port has a safe experience, our agency rose to the challenge as we created a great partnership with our Canaveral Port Authority.

And then of course, at the request of the county commission and because my wife Susan told me to do it, we took over Animal Services in 2014 to maintain and run the Animal Care Center and all Animal Enforcement responsibilities.

Trust me when I tell you that assuming law enforcement and seaport security for Port Canaveral, district school security, and animal services at one time was no easy task, but it was the right task and challenge that our agency embraced and eagerly accepted.

And if all of that were not enough somewhere along the way we also managed to create a first of it’s kind child victim’s advocacy dog program to assist child victims of crime, implement a chain gang and inmate work crew to save our taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year by cleaning our roadways, and of course, made certain that our community knew how much we love them by working closely with local charities to help fundraise and provide resources, raising millions of dollars along the way.

Oh and one more thing…as a Shepherd of our taxpayer’s dollars, our Brevard County Sheriff’s Office budget is considered to be one of the most transparent and fiscally sound budgets in the state, in fact, we are one of the lowest per capita Sheriff’s Office Budgets in the state of Florida.

I couldn’t be more proud as over the course of the past ten and a half years we have accomplished so much, lowering the crime rate to historic levels, assuming Animal Control from the county, making our port and schools the safest in the country, having fewer victims of crime than anytime in the past 45 years, and quickly achieving “no kill” status as we saved the lives of thousands of homeless pets.

While our successes to date have been remarkable, just imagine what we can still partner together to accomplish!! That’s why I am excited tonight to ask for your support as I officially kick-off my re-election campaign to continue to serve as your Brevard County Sheriff.

I can honestly tell you that there is no better place in the country to serve as a law enforcement officer and I hope everyone knows how much I appreciate all of their incredible support and how grateful I am to have our citizens partner with our agency to keep our community safe.

It is truly an honor to serve as your Sheriff and to work alongside the 1,700 amazing men and women of your Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

Thank you for your amazing support and I would be honored if you would allow me to continue serving as your Sheriff.

CLICK HERE to see the video.

Similar Stories