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Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony and his \u201cmentor\u201d Nova Southeaster University Professor Vincent Van Hasselt<\/p>\nBroward Sheriff Gregory Tony and his \u201cmentor\u201d Nova Southeaster University Professor Vincent Van Hasselt<\/p>\n
By Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog<\/a>.org<\/p>\n Days after Broward Sheriff \u201cDr.\u201d Gregory Tony\u2019s commencement ceremony at Nova Southeastern University in June 2024 he hired the academic chairman of the NSU committee that judged his doctoral dissertation as a BSO reserve deputy sheriff.<\/p>\n Vincent Van Hasselt, a psychology professor, was hired for the part-time position on June 24, 2024, records show. Van Hasselt, 73, is a certified law enforcement officer and, since joining BSO, has been \u201cvested with the authority to bear arms and make arrests\u201d under Florida law.<\/p>\n He earns $19.13 an hour and drives an unmarked BSO take-home vehicle \u2014 a perk not offered in BSO\u2019s public solicitation for reserve-deputy applicants.<\/p>\n Van Hasselt\u2019s hiring, so soon after Tony\u2019s graduation, raises questions about whether the sheriff rewarded a key academic gatekeeper in his doctoral process with special benefits \u2014 paid for by the public agency he leads \u2014 to advance his personal educational goal.<\/p>\n His annual gross pay was $1,932 in 2024, $4,266 in 2025 and $1,569 as of May 5, 2026, according to BSO\u2019s public information unit.<\/p>\n Neither Van Hasselt nor Sheriff Tony responded to requests for comment about the timing of the professor\u2019s hiring or why he was assigned an unmarked BSO vehicle.<\/p>\n Sheriff Tony often touts his PhD, so much so that his personal educational achievement is a point of public controversy. He\u2019s spent tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to add \u201cPhD\u201d or \u201cDr.\u201d next to his name on BSO\u2019s ubiquitous logo, stationery and signage, and across walls, ceilings, floors and even shower curtains at the sheriff\u2019s controversial $74 million gym and training building.<\/p>\n PhD OR EdD?<\/p>\n The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) shields university students\u2019 records, including their work papers. But on April 29, after Tony posted his 71-page dissertation on BSO\u2019s website, Florida Bulldog reported<\/a> that Tony apparently violated state ethics law by using confidential police data to write it.<\/p>\n The disclosure also raised questions about Tony\u2019s actual NSU degree. The dissertation twice says Tony submitted it \u201cin partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor of education at Nova Southeastern University.\u201d NSU\u2019s online Doctor of Education, (EdD), is a \u201cpractitioner-focused\u201d degree aimed at organizational leaders who want to use research to solve real-world problems \u2013 not to attain a more rigorous, time-consuming and impressive PhD.<\/p>\n Did Tony misunderstand the degree he was pursuing? Maybe. At Florida Bulldog\u2019s request, NSU vice president and spokeswoman Kyle Fisher checked with the university registrar. \u201cI can tell you that he was awarded a PhD in criminal justice from Nova Southeastern University in 2024,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Fisher added that Tony \u201cis currently an adjunct faculty and is scheduled to teach a course this summer,\u201d for NSU\u2019s Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite his PhD degree and status as sheriff, Tony seems an odd choice to teach law enforcement. NSU\u2019s criminal justice school says its adjunct faculty \u201cbring a wealth of professional experience and connections into the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Tony\u2019s law enforcement experience includes his arrest and acquittal for killing a young man when he was 14; his failure to disclose the homicide to Gov. Ron DeSantis before the governor appointed him sheriff in 2019; a two-year Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation that concluded he lied multiple times on official records; a judge\u2019s finding that he failed to maintain \u201cgood moral character\u201d; and his acceptance last year of a public censure and reprimand that ended, without trial, a Commission on Ethics probe.<\/p>\n TONY\u2019S \u2018APPLIED DISSERTATION\u2019<\/p>\n NSU\u2019s Fischler College of Education<\/a> pitches its online EdD program to prospective students like this: \u201cBe a leader in your field with a doctoral degree in education from Nova Southeastern University. Learn how to foster positive change and development in your classroom, school, administration, or organization. Unlike research-heavy Ph.D. programs, this degree is designed for practitioners, giving you a more hands-on approach to educational leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n That description matches the scope of Tony\u2019s \u201capplied dissertation,\u201d which examines whether Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training affects mental health crisis response and arrest decisions among 1,500 BSO deputies from 2017 to 2023. No other police agency was studied.<\/p>\n Tony\u2019s conclusion: \u201cThe results revealed no significant effect of CIT training on the decision to arrest after controlling for officer age and years of service. However, among officers who had made at least one arrest, those who were CIT trained at the time of the incident were significantly less likely to make an arrest than those who had not been trained.\u201d<\/p>\n CIT training is used to teach first responders how to interact effectively with individuals with mental illness and how to de-escalate confrontations with law enforcement.<\/p>\n CIT training is one of Van Hasselt\u2019s specialties. \u201cHe has been teaching it since its inception in 2002,\u201d Tony wrote in a 2021 article, calling Van Hasselt his \u201cmentor.\u201d<\/p>\n It is unclear whether Van Hasselt or the three other NSU professors who served on Tony\u2019s advisory committee, or the university\u2019s Institutional Review Board \u2013 which reviews every dissertation \u2013 questioned Tony\u2019s methodology. His study relied on internal BSO databases and BSO employees\u2019 research to compile and analyze the data underlying his thesis.<\/p>\n NSU\u2019s Fisher said FERPA restricts what the university can disclose about graduates, adding that \u201cwe will never be able to have anyone provide to you detailed information about an individual\u2019s dissertation process, their committee makeup, etc.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheriff Tony remains close to Van Hasselt and Dr. Ryan Black, an NSU assistant professor of psychology who also served on the committee that evaluated Tony. On March 27, they and two other academics co-authored an article for Corrections1<\/a>, an online publication for corrections professionals, promoting a \u201cstructured peer support model designed for correctional officers to address chronic stress, reduce stigma and strengthen workforce resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n The article says the Peers as Law Enforcement Support \u2013 Corrections (PALS-C) program was adapted from the PALS model that Van Hasselt previously developed for use by police officers.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/570049824_1437715965030844_6209081661785378813_n.jpg\")
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