JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly a year before Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office officer Brian Housend was arrested in Nassau County and accused of stalking and armed kidnapping of a woman he had a previous relationship with, Housend was investigated by JSO after he was accused of making racist and homophobic statements, according to documents obtained by News4JAX.
When Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters announced the arrest of 20-year JSO veteran Housend on Sept. 12, the agency released a summary of internal investigations of Housend. The summary shows that since 2013, Housend has been the target of six internal investigations, including three citizen complaints from 2013-14 and three in-house complaints from 2015-23.
“That’s really more than you want to see,” said News4JAX Crime and Safety analyst Tom Hackney, who retired from JSO in 2020 as Director of Personnel and Professional Standards. “It’s not a lot. Because, you know, you get some officers who get out there and they work hard and sometimes they get complaints. I mean, obviously the ideal officer has zero complaints.”…