Sheriff's Department Sheriff's Department doesn't do it's job. Ruskin Florida

It is hard to see exactly what your complaint is.  As in your original report you seem more concerned about the damage they were doing to your property than the children.  Because you said that "She and her four sons are destroying my house", instead of "The mother was abusive and the kids are in danger".  You then later say that you called about a legitimate complaint about your "property" NOT about the children. 

So if you reported that they were damaging the house that is a civil matter. 

Now, if you told them that there were children in danger and they refused to investigate then you may have a valid complaint.  But police take all things into consideration.  If you first called and said that you wanted them out because they were destroying property, but then later called and added in that the children were in danger.  They may have felt that the "addition" was false and treated it as such.

If they found evidence of abuse the mother would probably have been arrested, and the kids would have been put into protective custody.  If the police just felt it was neglect they probably would have just taken the kids and let the mother stay. 

However, either way it still would probably not have evicted the family, and they would not be charged with any destruction of property.  Because that is their residence.  As far as I am aware the mother could break every window, put holes in every wall, and tear down every door and there is not one thing you can do to charge her criminally.  Because it is not YOUR property as they have established residence there, but because that is hopefully a violation of the lease you would have grounds to go after her for damages.

What you need to do is get an eviction started on them.  Hopefully when you decided to rent out your house you got a lawyer.  If so you should talk to them about starting an eviction.  If you don't have a lawyer..GET ONE.  Because the thing you don't want right now is to do something wrong, where it could come back and get you in trouble.

This is a quote from Chh2's rebuttal:

"However, if there is NO rental or lease contract, and you are the owner/executor of the dwelling in question then that person is not a tenant and would be considered a guest which you have the right to have removed from the premises. In the case that there was no contract, and perhaps just a gentleman's agreement, I would still suggest possibly contacting an attorney to draft a letter demanding their departure and setting a 24/48 hour deadline from time of delivery of said letter before calling police for enforcement. Unfortunately, if no formal contract existed, you are likely going to have a hard time recouping any damages from the 'guest'."

I strongly suggest that the OP check Florida law before taking action. If (we don't know for sure) there was no rental agreement, the tenant must still be given 15 days notice before they have to move out and their final day must coincide with a typical rental term (usually the 1st or 15th). If I were a Florida landlord wanting to evict somebody and gave notice today (May 7), the notice would not take effect until May 15. The tenant would then have until May 30th or thereabouts to leave.

That's my understanding. An attorney who practices in Florida would be the best source of advice on this.

I have discovered that the reason that 2 of the bedroom doors were ripped off and burned was that the mother was trying to get into her sons' bedrooms.  Apparently, the boys had locked themselves in their rooms (2 per room) to get away from their mother.  She kicked the doors in to get at her children and then burned the doors so that they couldn't hide from her anymore.  The Sheriff's Department wouldn't respond to our request to investigate.  I have since spoken to a Supervisor in the Sheriff's Dept., not in Ruskin, and was told that, yes, a deputy should have gone out to the house, the children were in danger.  Where children are concerned, the 'I don't care" attitude is not good enough!

In my experience, what you have been told is accurate. It is a civil matter and you do have legal avenues you can take.

You state several times that they are 'your' tenant so I presume you are a landlord or some form and there should be some form of leasing or rental contract. You need to follow the guidelines set for in that contract to terminate it, follow through legally, and have them evicted. The tenants liability for damage should be in the contract, and you may be entitled to pursue other legal avenues and collections for you to collect damages.

The police can not just respond to a call and arrest or throw someone out of their home, if they have a contractual right to be there. Damage or not, those provisions are covered in any rental or lease agreement. You need to pursue your legal avenues pursuant to that contract and any violations therein to rid yourself of the problem. Until you do so, that dwelling remains their home and they have a right to be there. The bickering back and forth and calling the police on each other is pointless, and a waste of tax dollars and could constitute claims on either side of harassment.

However, if there is NO rental or lease contract, and you are the owner/executor of the dwelling in question then that person is not a tenant and would be considered a guest which you have the right to have removed from the premises. In the case that there was no contract, and perhaps just a gentleman's agreement, I would still suggest possibly contacting an attorney to draft a letter demanding their departure and setting a 24/48 hour deadline from time of delivery of said letter before calling police for enforcement. Unfortunately, if no formal contract existed, you are likely going to have a hard time recouping any damages from the 'guest'.

Either way, just my thoughts, I am by no means an expert, but unfortunately the burden of proof is on you as a landlord to due your due diligence and exercise your rights as provided in the rental/lease contract as you are likely contractually required to follow certain steps to terminate that contract. And again, if no contract exists, take the extra necessary steps to cover yourself so you can smoothly have the law on your side when the time comes to exercise it.

Not a criminal one - go get an order of eviction, file it and then the Sheriff can  evict the individuals as soon as the order is effective -

The Police and Sheriff's Office are designed to deal with emergencies not civil matters! AS for getting into the 21st century maybe you don't read the paper or watch the news - There are more important things going on in this country than your tenant problem! Have some respect for those individuals who put their lives on the line every single day!~