While Minneapolis shed 40 percent of its police force, Ron DeSantis was handing out $5,000 checks.
That was then.
But Ron DeSantis just did it again – and what he handed 1,500 new officers this week is something no Democrat mayor in America would dare do.
Florida's Answer to the National Staffing Crisis
The defund movement didn't just embarrass Democrats.
It hollowed out American policing.
A 2024 national survey found 70 percent of agencies reported having more difficulty hiring than five years ago.
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Minneapolis and New Orleans both lost roughly 40 percent of their sworn officers compared to a decade ago.
The NYPD was bleeding 200 officers a month as recently as last year.
Resignations among American officers jumped 18 percent between 2020 and 2021 alone, while retirements spiked 45 percent.
DeSantis watched all of that happen and made a different decision.
In 2022, he launched Florida's Law Enforcement Recruitment Bonus Payment Program – a one-time $5,000 payment, covered by the state right down to the taxes owed, for every qualified new officer hired by a Florida agency.
The Numbers Democrats Don't Want You Seeing
DeSantis appeared at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office Training Facility on Tuesday to personally hand $5,000 bonuses to 38 new recruits – part of 1,500 new officers receiving checks statewide this week.
This round alone cost more than $10 million.
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Since 2022, the program has paid out nearly $83 million to roughly 12,500 newly hired Florida law enforcement officers.
The state's 2026-27 budget includes another $20 million to keep the program running, plus additional funding for pay increases across the board.
Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco put it plainly at Tuesday's event.
"Whenever there's been a crisis for law enforcement, Gov. DeSantis has always been there for us," Nocco said. "It started with the defund the police movement. It was law enforcement across the country being villainized, but not in Florida."
While Democrat-run cities like Portland were cutting patrol officers to cover three precincts around the clock with just 310 available bodies, Florida was building a pipeline.
While Indianapolis was 300 officers short and calling in state troopers to fill the gap, Florida was paying people to show up.
DeSantis put it plainly Tuesday: "We have put our money where our mouth is when we say we're a law and order state."
What Happens When a Governor Actually Has Officers' Backs
Here's what Democrats never understood about the defund moment: the damage wasn't just to budgets.
It was to morale.
Officers who spent their careers running toward danger watched Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey kneel before protesters and publicly commit to dismantling his own police department – then watched his city lose nearly half its sworn officers over the next four years.
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Florida became the destination.
The $5,000 bonus helped – and DeSantis made sure officers got every dollar of it by covering the taxes, so recruits weren't handed a check only to lose a chunk of it come April.
That detail matters to someone deciding whether to relocate their family.
DeSantis is term-limited, finishing his final months in office, and he made clear Tuesday he expects whoever replaces him to protect the program.
The question is whether Florida's next governor understands what it actually cost to get here.
Twelve thousand five hundred new officers, $83 million, and four years of telling law enforcement: you have a state that has your back.
That's what it looks like when a governor actually means it.
Sources:
- Angel Green, "Florida awards $5,000 bonuses to 1,500 new law enforcement officers," Yahoo News/Channel 9, September 15, 2026.
- Gabrielle Russon, "Ron DeSantis urges next Governor to preserve his law enforcement recruitment bonuses," September 15, 2026.
- R Street Institute, "Rebuilding the Force: Solving Policing's Workforce Emergency," March 2025.
- Police Executive Research Forum, National Survey on Officer Resignations and Retirements, June 2021.
- RespondCapture, "The Police Pay-and-Bonus Arms Race Is Here," October 2025.
