News and Investigations

News & Investigations

News Releases and Public Information

Welcome to the Polk County Sheriff's Office News Room, where the Public Information Officers (PIO's) post all of the information that they release to the news media. PIO's act as liaisons between news media organizations and the Sheriff's Office. The PIO's routinely release timely and accurate information and Crime Stoppers bulletins, and respond to routine and "breaking news" media inquiries. News releases and Crime Stoppers information can be found on this page.

PCSO's full-time Public Information Officers are Brian Bruchey, Carrie Horstman, and Alicia Manautou. The Public Information Officers can be reached by sending an e-mail collectively at PIOs@polksheriff.org.

The recent news releases sent out by the PIOs can be found here, and archived releases (older than 2017) can be found here.

Oct 8, 2018

Sheriff Grady Judd launches "Not In My County" podcast

Media Contact: Sherrie Morgan, PIO

On October 5, 2018, a new podcast was launched featuring Polk County's own Sheriff Grady Judd.

The “Not in My County” podcast, produced by the Lakeland Ledger, will run 30 minutes and air on a weekly basis.

It’s geared to entertain as well as educate listeners and will feature stories about crazy criminals. Sheriff Judd will also touch on what he’s passionate about in life and law enforcement. And there’s a “guest of the week” segment during which the Sheriff will discuss important issues with news makers, politicians, and celebrities from across the country.

The first podcast guest is Andy Pollack, whose daughter was killed in the tragic shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida. Pollack has been a strong supporter of the Polk County School Safety Guardian program in Polk County.

While Sheriff Judd is voluntarily hosting the podcast to educate and spread awareness about preventing crime, he’s also hosting it on behalf of Polk Sheriff’s Charities. Sponsors of the podcast are generously contributing towards all the great work the charity does.

“I'm excited about doing this weekly podcast. It will be a great opportunity to enlighten people about all the great work my deputies do. You’ll have some laughs and you might shed a tear or two. I’ll be touching on a lot of issues and also encouraging listeners to let us know what they'd like to hear on the show.” - Grady Judd, Sheriff

The “Not in My County with Sheriff Grady Judd” podcast will be released each Friday and is available on iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Tunein, Spotify, Amazon Alexa and Google Home.

Click here to access the podcast online.