A Sarasota County sheriff’s deputy has earned one of the state’s top law enforcement honors. Deputy David Miller was named Law Enforcement Officer of the Year by the Florida Retail Federation for his work investigating organized retail theft and fraud, cases that added up to millions of dollars and arrests tied to hundreds of felony charges. The award has been given annually since 1974, and this year it went to someone from right here on the Suncoast.
The scope of the work is striking. Officials described warehouses full of seized stolen merchandise recovered from criminal groups this year. Ed Brodsky, State Attorney for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit, which handles roughly 40,000 criminal cases a year across Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties, praised Miller’s dedication alongside Assistant State Attorney Nicholas Lata and Sgt. Ben Lubrano.
For local shoppers, the impact goes beyond the courtroom. Organized retail theft pushes prices up at stores of every size, from big-box retailers to the small shops that line Main Street in Sarasota and Venice. Every case like this one chips away at those costs. So here’s our question for you: have you noticed retail prices changing at your favorite local stores, and do stories like this one change how you think about the issue?
