Local and State News

February 21, 2018 Santa Rosa Beach, FL – Car burglars hit 12 cars on two adjacent streets in Santa Rosa Beach overnight Thursday stealing firearms, wallets, and a vehicle with the keys left inside. Deputies responded to Garden Street and Plantation Way Friday morning following multiple reports of car burglaries in the area. Five vehicles on Garden Street and seven on ...

February 21, 2018 DOH-Okaloosa has launched an HIV Outreach Program Locally to have a positive impact on this preventable, testable and treatable disease. The Florida Department of Health (DOH) is implementing a statewide HIV and AIDS prevention campaign. The Okaloosa County campaign is being implemented to promote testing and treatment for HIV, on television, radio and outdoor advertising, to include local transit ...

February 21, 2018 Milton, FL – A Milton High School Student has been arrested and charged with Disturbing The Peace at a school function for falsely yelling school shooter. On February 21, 2018 at 11:48 am a Santa Rosa County School Resource Officer assigned to Milton High School was notified of an incident involving one of the students. A student ...

February 20, 2018 Shalimar, FL – The Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners paid tribute to four deputy Sheriff killed in-the-line of duty. Supported by two rows of green clad Sheriff’s Office employees, the wives, children, aunts, and uncles of Tony Forgione, Burt Lopez, Skip York, and Bill Myers, were in attendance as the commission paid tribute to these brave deputies. ...

February 16, 2018 Shalimar, FL – Dale Blackwood has been a valued member of the Sheriff’s Office since 1995, where he served as a deputy sheriff in the Patrol division before transferring to the Communications section in 1999. He’s been a Communications Officer, Supervisor, Communications Training Officer, Training/Quality Assurance Coordinator, DAVID administrator, and most recently achieved Accreditation Assessor certification. He is ...

Shalimar, FL – Deputy Sonya Shepard has served with the sheriff’s office since 2004 and as an SRO since 2013. She has proven to be the ultimate School Resource Officer, founding several community service and civic clubs within Destin Elementary School: The Junior Deputy Leadership Posse is for students who have earned membership through a selection process that involves parents and ...

Shalimar, FL – Investigator Kelly Henderson is assigned to the Crimes Against Children Section and is tasked to investigate the most difficult cases we encounter. In 2017, she investigated 55 Child Abuse cases, four unattended deaths, two homicides, one home invasion robbery, 23 sexual batteries (20 involved child victims) and 16 Lewd/Lascivious molestation cases all involving children, some as young as ...

February 17, 2018 Chipley– Drivers will encounter traffic variations on the following state roads in Okaloosa and Walton counties as crews perform construction and maintenance activities.  Okaloosa County State Road (S.R.) 189 (Beal Parkway) Intersection Improvement at S.R. 393 (Mary Esther Boulevard)– There will be intermittent northbound lane restrictions on Beal Parkway between Ewing Court and Water Street from 9 p.m. to ...

February 16, 2018 PARKLAND, Fla. – Today, Governor Rick Scott made the following statement regarding the FBI’s admission that they failed to take action after receiving information on January 5, 2018, regarding “[Nikolas] Cruz’s gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.” Governor Scott said, ...

February 16, 2018 Escambia County Officer Long checked a subject as he returned to the Heron Bayou Boat Ramp. While speaking to the individual, Officer Long noticed that both the vehicle and vessel the individual had been operating had expired registrations. A criminal history on the individual revealed he had an active warrant in Escambia County for violation of probation. ...