Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Clay County Has a New Sheriff: Darryl Daniels

Darryl Daniels, a Navy veteran who served 24 years with the JSO, is the first African-American to be sworn in as Clay County’s new Sheriff. He replaces the retiring Rick Beesler.

Daniels talked about his plans for county safety on First Coast Connect Friday, including his plan to reduce crime and his first community walk Tuesday.

“I want to be more visible — me personally — and have members of the sheriff office more visible and interacting more with the community,” Daniels said.

Some of his biggest concerns he aims to address as sheriff are property crimes, and “stepping up narcotics enforcement.”

However, Daniels said he’ll also explore the idea of equipping deputies with body cameras after he takes office and begins work Tuesday.

“It's certainly something I am willing to explore, however, currently I cannot support that budgetarily,” he said.

Daniels said body cameras are meant to help create transparency between law enforcement and citizens  while protecting police. He has tasked his staff with exploring a specific grant to support getting cameras into the sheriff's office.

"Don’t keep information from the citizens,” Daniels said.

News Intern Joy Kader can be reached at joykader@yahoo.com, 561-900-5235 or on Twitter at @joykader95

Joy Kader is a senior at the University of North Florida, pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in multimedia journalism and production.