If it came from the college to which you applied, it might be good news. If it came from some business you never heard of, it would be a scam. But when it comes from the Pasco County sheriff, what the hell is it?

“We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected…”

This is about as heartwarming as your telephone company opening their letter with “To serve you better,” which is invariably followed by something good for them and very bad for you.

But the four-page letter from the Pasco Sheriff’s Office goes on to tell recipients they will be facing enhanced police scrutiny under the agency’s controversial intelligence program.

What are the chances that anybody who gets the letter will read four pages? Frankly, it’s shocking that the sheriff would be able to write a four page letter, but it becomes more understandable if you assume it was written by the lawyers, and then it’s surprising it was only four pages. So what was this about?

“You may wonder why you were enrolled in this program,” the letter continues. “You were selected as a result of an evaluation of your recent criminal behavior using an unbiased, evidence-based risk assessment designed to identify prolific offenders in our community. As a result of this designation, we will go to great efforts to encourage change in your life through enhanced support and increased accountability.”

Prolific offenders sounds pretty bad, almost like some sort of sentencing scheme to require a defendant to get life plus cancer for jaywalking after two priors. But if this remake of Minority Report was only about the sheriff sending out a threatening letter to put the fear of god sheriff into people who had been previously convicted (which I assume based on the “recent criminal behavior” verbiage) to not commit any more crimes, it would be bad but not necessarily unconstitutional.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case and the Pasco County Sheriff seems to believe that sending out a letter to put people on notice somehow obviates their constitutional rights.

Last year, a Tampa Bay Times investigation revealed that the Sheriff’s Office creates lists of people it considers likely to break the law based on criminal histories, social networks and other unspecified intelligence. The agency sends deputies to their homes repeatedly, often without a search warrant or probable cause for an arrest.

Not only is this harassment and a violation of the individuals’ right to be left alone, but it gets worse.

The Times also found that the agency has a separate program that uses schoolchildren’s grades, attendance records and abuse histories to label them potential future criminals.

After all, you can never be too young to make it onto law enforcement’s radar so they know who to watch before you embark on a life of crime. Rather than recognize that they might be overreaching just a wee bit, the Sheriff argues that this is good news for its chosen prolific offenders.

The new letter to so-called “prolific offenders” says its purpose is to communicate the agency’s “sincere desire” to help recipients “begin a new path.”

“We are committed to your success,” it says.

“Committed” is an interesting choice of words. The Sheriff’s letter says it has partnered with resources that might be useful to some on the list, because who wouldn’t turn to the sheriff in times of need when it makes clear that its fist it too big to fit in its very small velvet glove.

But it also delivers a stern warning: “Our desire to help you will not hinder us from holding you fully accountable for your choices and actions.”

It then says the Sheriff’s Office will share recipients’ names and criminal histories with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to ensure “the highest level of accountability” for any future crimes they commit.

Nothing says warm and fuzzy like sharing with the feds. In reaction to this letter, a lawyer from the Southern Poverty Law Center calls the letter “so incredibly patronizing and offensive on so many levels.” This may be, since what isn’t “offensive” these days, but of all the grievances to level at a sheriff knocking on your door, and hopefully stopping at the threshold rather than pushing their way in for a friendly visit of opening drawers and closets of your mother and cousin’s kids, patronizing seems the least of the problems.

If the cops have probable cause to believe that you committed a crime, that’s one thing. But if they don’t, you have a right to be left alone. Your family has a right to be left alone. Sending a letter advising you in advance that the sheriff intends to harass you, or worse, doesn’t change that.

Targets and their relatives, including four who are now suing the Sheriff’s Office in federal court, described the tactics as harassment and a violation of their constitutional rights.

The Institute for Justice has taken this on, and they’ve done some exceptional work in defending constitutional rights against abuse, particularly in the area of civil forfeiture.

“The goal here is to shut this program down and to make sure it stops, both for these clients and everybody in Pasco County.”

It’s a worthy goal, and this letter is wrong and outrageous. Hopefully, no other law enforcement agency will take up this stroke of genius in the next season of Minority Report.