TikTok Cop from p7 He suggested that a return to “personal accountability” was in order. He continued: “Anyone who’s against this, feel free to H move to Portland or Seattle. We don’t want you here.” “This is a joke, right?” urricane Ian made landfall in Lee County on Septem- ber 28, bringing 150 mph winds and inundating coastal communities with a massive storm surge that destroyed whole city blocks. Among Florida counties, Lee had the highest share of fatalities linked to the storm, with the local death toll exceeding 50 people as of October 16. In front of wrecked buildings and torn-up boats, Marceno provided daily updates to residents, delivering news about storm-related casualties and detailing his department’s search and rescue efforts. As the days wore on, he detailed how his department had undertaken to search submerged ve- hicles for the remains of storm victims. The sheriff’s zero-tolerance approach, as well as his pen- chant for theatrics, played a major role in his leadership in the hurricane recovery. Two weeks after the storm struck, he was still warning looters of imminent retribution: “If you’re lucky, you’ll go to jail,” he said on October 11. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office, meanwhile, has been doc- umenting progress in delivering supplies and rebuilding bridges to the county’s barrier islands, which were cut off by Ian. Some of the footage released by the department has cine- matic music sweeping over scenes of Marceno embracing res- idents. One story details how rations were rapidly delivered to Pine Island residents after they chatted with the sheriff about their lack of supplies. October 11 marked a milestone in the recovery effort as bridge access to the decimated community of Sanibel Island was restored. Marceno stood alongside Gov. Ron DeSantis to announce the reopening, with a convoy of trucks traversing the bridge in the background. All the while, Marceno has received praise from locals for THE SHERIFF’S ZERO-TOLERANCE APPROACH, AS WELL AS HIS PENCHANT FOR THEATRICS, PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN HIS LEADERSHIP IN THE HURRICANE RECOVERY. going out, day-to-day, into ravaged communities. “The man takes care of business. He will lead Lee County through this devastation. It’s all about community,” one commenter on Facebook wrote. Others have bitten back, saying Marceno has been carrying on the same kind of self-promotion and backpatting that made his pre-hurricane antics hard to swallow. When he re- leased an image of himself posing for a photo op in front of a scene of mass destruction on Fort Myers Beach, one Twitter user responded, “This is a joke, right?” “This can’t be real. Tone deaf as fuck,” another commenter wrote. Families of inmates at county jails have decried the sher- iff’s office’s handling of the disaster. One Lee County woman told New Times that her mother, who was awaiting a bail hearing, was forced to ride out the storm in the downtown Fort Myers jail after the sheriff’s office declined to evacuate the facility, despite the fact that it is in an evacuation zone prone to dangerous storm surge. The jail had toilets overflowing with human sewage, and the staff were giv- ing inmates cloudy, brown water to drink, the mother reported. Detainees were transferred to the main jail, where New Times received multiple reports from prisoners and their family members, saying inmates were being denied clean water for as long as 20 hours at a time in the aftermath of the storm. Some resorted to drinking contaminated water from the tap, one inmate’s family member said. Another inmate’s wife told New Times that prisoners were not receiving their medication. The sheriff’s office confirmed to New Times that it trans- ferred prisoners from downtown Fort Myers to the county’s main jail after the storm damaged the city’s utilities. The sher- iff’s office said that the downtown jail did not sustain signifi- cant flood damage; a spokesperson maintained that inmates were receiving food, water, and medication in accordance with the applicable regulations. [email protected] Eligible for Medicare & Medicaid? HELP YOURSELF! Get $7,500 worth of FREE extra benefits that Original Medicare & Medicaid don’t cover. Keep ALL your Original Medicare & Medicaid benefits $0 monthly premium Call now to enroll: 1-866-396-1586 (TTY: 711) 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., 7 days a week Or visit: vipdualfl.com/new 8 8 10516 ROP 9_625x5_4167_FL_RELEASE.indd 1 10/5/22 10:27 AM AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care is an HMO-SNP plan with a Medicare contract and a contract with the Florida Medicaid program. Enrollment in AmeriHealth Caritas VIP Care depends on contract renewal. 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