Pasco's sheriff uses grades and abuse histories to label schoolchildren potential criminals.

[Zorro]

The kids and their parents don’t know.

The Pasco Sheriff’s Office keeps a secret list of kids it thinks could “fall into a life of crime” based on factors like whether they’ve been abused or gotten a D or an F in school, according to the agency's internal intelligence manual.

The Sheriff’s Office assembles the list by combining the rosters for most middle and high schools in the county with records so sensitive, they’re protected by state and federal law.

School district data shows which children are struggling academically, miss too many classes or are sent to the office for discipline. Records from the state Department of Children and Families flag kids who have witnessed household violence or experienced it themselves.

According to the manual, any one of those factors makes a child more likely to become a criminal.

Four hundred and twenty kids are on the list, the Sheriff’s Office said.

https://projects.tampabay.com/projects/2020/investigations/police-pasco-sheriff-targeted/school-data/

[csziggy]

1. Sounds like job security for the Sheriff's department

Rather than get assistance and counseling for the children, law enforcement puts them on a list so that they can be held up as "future criminals" that will need more policing in the future.

Note: My sister used to be an elementary school counselor in Pasco County. The school she was in for most of her years in the system was mostly attended by the children of Hispanic migrant workers. When she was first hired, the federal government was experimenting with a quarterly system to accommodate the children's whose year were dictated by seasonal work. With four quarters of classes, the children were better able to complete full courses than in a traditional nine month school year.

Unfortunately when the federal grant ran out, the school reverted to nine month school terms and the children's families were seldom resident for that period. With English as a second language and pieces of classes from different school systems, those children have little chance of making good grades. I'd bet a large percentage of the children on that sheriff's list are Hispanic.

[ret5hd]

2. PreCrimes Division.

[TheBlackAdder]

3. I wold love to see that sheriff's school records. I guarantee you he was no saint.