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This tweet is going around and as someone who grew up in Florida, I feel compelled to explain why it seems like there's so many *~crazy news stories~* coming out of there 24/7
Florida has something called the Sunshine Law that gives the public *very* open access to public records. (It’s actually very progressive!) This includes government meetings minutes, documents, and... arrest reports from sheriff's offices and police departments.
On my county’s website, for example, you can see everyone who was arrested in the past 24 hours with a click of a button. Mug shots, full names, charges, everything.
So if a local newspaper needs content, Florida Man stories are a gimme. A reporter can call the police department and ask for a full arrest report for any of those arrests, and almost always the police legally have to provide it. (Journalists in other states have it much harder!)
I'm sure scouring arrest records for "Florida Man" stories has been more than one Florida newspaper intern's full time job.
So that’s why you see so many stories about crazy stuff going down in FL, which start as local stories then get picked up by like, the Daily Mail.
(also, i mean… the humidity and meth don’t help)
