JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — How much has community confidence in the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office been affected after JSO arrested one of their own officers for sending confidential information to people outside the department?
On Wednesday, Sheriff T.K. Waters announced former officer Christopher Barr was arrested for using a protected JSO database to access and send information to subjects of investigations.
When announcing Barr's arrest, Waters said Barr's arrest has a strong possibility of being related to gang activity in Jacksonville.
A.J. Jordan, the Outreach Coordinator with MAD DADS, said Barr's arrest should not deter the community from helping JSO fight crime in Jacksonville. He often guides MAD DADS efforts to help solve violent crimes in Jacksonville by working as a liaison between JSO and a community that often doesn't trust police.
"I thought it was a disgrace to the badge, the sheriff's department, to our city, to our community," Jordan said.
Jordan stood side by side with Waters at a crime prevention walk less than two weeks ago and said the fact that an officer was arrested for sending confidential information to suspects of investigations should not stop people from working with police to solve crimes.
"We can't let that distract us, we have murderers and rapists and people taking Kia's and Hyundai's and we can't let that distract us," said Jordan, "we have a responsibility as citizens to get criminals off our streets."
Now-former JSO officer Barr faces felony charges for sending law enforcement information to unauthorized individuals outside of the department.
"What he did was so egregious it could have had officers killed," said First Coast News Crime and Safety Analyst Ken Jefferson. "He could have compromised witnesses."
Jefferson worked at JSO for 24 years and said that Barr's arrest could erode the community's trust in the department as well as affect the way that officers develop sources to solve crimes.
"When you have a rogue officer violating the trust, violating his oath, violating the trust of the community, that breaches the whole concept of working with confidential informants, working with the community, developing that type of trust," said Jefferson.
The State Attorney's Office tells First Coast News that it will review prior cases that Barr worked on as an officer to determine if any of those cases will be affected by his arrest.
Barr will be added to the Brady Information System, also known as the Brady List, which is a list of law enforcement employees who've been charged with crimes, shown bias and are a liability if called to testify in court.
Barr will be arraigned on Feb. 13 and Waters said Barr resigned from JSO upon his arrest.
"My confidence, MAD DADS confidence, is not shaken at all," Jordan said. "We applaud the sheriff because it seems to me the sheriff's office and T.K. Waters is doing everything possible to get the community engaged and that includes arresting his own officers sometimes."
