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 Meghan Petty. 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.

Sep 6, 2024

2024 Trick or Treat with Sheriff Judd – a NEW event hosted by PCSO’s Safe Schools Division!

Media Contact: Meghan Petty, PIO

If you have young children and are looking for some Halloween fun which provides treats but no tricks, the Polk County Sheriff's Office has a NEW event this year just for you! This year is the first of hopefully many trick or treat events being put on by our Safe Schools division.

We are excited to provide the community with an opportunity to trick or treat with their young children safely. This is a FREE event, and will be hosted at the Lakeland campus of Polk State College, 3425 Winter Lake Road in Lakeland. This event will be one night only – October 26th from 5-7 PM.

Our deputies will have patrol cars and multiple stations where kids can get candy, take pictures, and have some Halloween fun! So far, Kona Ice will be providing treats and we will have a concession stand! A dance troupe will be performing the Michael Jackson “Thriller” routine every half hour, and we have other surprises in store, such as Star Wars characters, the Ghostbuster Ectomobile, a photo booth, and some talking Grady Judd dolls for sale!

We’d like to say a huge thank you to Blackburn’s BBQ for sponsoring the bags for this event!

Join us on October 26th to kick off our new event in style!