Auburndale PD

Any info or opinions on Auburndale PD?

I will be moving to the area and have 10 years experience as a police officer in Broward County.

Thanks & Stay Safe

Yup, its call join the Sheriff's Office.. we have better benefits, better retirement, and you wont circle the same block every 20 minutes. :) Granted, city has closer back up, but the county is the way to go.

I happen to enjoy working at the Auburndale PD. We are a small department with that small town feeling. Our City Manager, City Clerk, Fire Chief and other city officials have all been working for the city for well over ten years. The PD has a new chief when the last one retired after 19 years of service here. Not many city's can claim they have low turnover on their officials.

I sure you would rejoice to have your old Chief back! Didn't think so!

If you have that much prior law enforcement experience in that busy an area, you won't like working for a small PD. It will start out as "Gee, this is a nice change. It's so quiet", to "I'm so freaking bored, I just want to shoot myself"!! Plus the standards are lower there than with the Sheriff's Office. Some of their officers are great, but there are a few who were fired from other agencies for some pretty undesireable stuff.

My recommendation: Apply to the Sheriff's Office. It won't be too long before we take over the city anyway, so cut the red tape! Start with the S.O. and save yourself the cross-over training later. Good Luck!!

Auburndale is a great city and they are expanding very much. County just has more 'area' to roam in, more calls, and can do their own warrants.

No city is more 'worse' off then the next. It doesnt matter which agency the County Sheriff is going to 'take over' That all depends on funding which are up to the City Counsel. It has nothing to do with the Agency itself. Smaller towns have more weight to carry in keeping up with the demands of law enforcement then larger ones and county.

There are problems in every agency that reflect another. City agencies are great, because you know everyone and everyone knows you. A few times Ive gone to City Police and asked them about a suspect in a case I was working in which I only knew a Street name. They were able to tell me who they were and where to find them. Sometimes theyve even gotten them for me.

Unfortunately, I just cannot drive in a circle all day and all night. (Benefit of working for the county.) I dont have to go through downtown if i dont want to :)

Just remember this, make sure you pick an agency that will tend to your needs (school, training etc) and make sure you pick an agency you can 110% offer your loyalty to. If at any point you are disgusted or have a negative attitude towards that agency, then its time to move on.

First, the county has no higher standard to go by. All i can reccomend is to drop by, take a look, and decide for yourself. Go on a ride along. I would caution against making any decision based on someone else's conceit.

There's nothing wrong with APD. Nice town over all. Like the previous post says come up and take a look for yourself. Nothing wrong with working for a smaller PD if that's what you want to do.

Auburndale isn't that small of a town anymore, the city limits is actually more widespread then one might think. It's has a charming downtown area with alot of shops and restaurants. APD is a pretty busy dept compared to a really small town like Polk City with it's one traffic light or do they have 2 now? lol Anyway, if you like small towns and things a little slower there's nothng wrong with that, if you like it to be constantly fast paced then definitely call PCSO. I personally would love to work for a small town. Yea you don't get that many calls but you get to do alot of interacting with the public and do alot of preventative measures by doing so. Large agency or small, just depends on your preference.

To answer some of the negativity that came from Polk County's fine Deputies, yes we have a small town; however, our current bounderies are SR559 just south of Luv's truck stop, SR600 to the Polk Parkway, Havendale Bl to Lake Blue, and SR600 to Jersey road. As for some of our Officers being hired with some negative things in their background, isn't that the case with every agency in the county? I worked for the Polk County Sheriff's Office from 1991 to 1994 and worked with a Sergeant that had a warrant for his arrest. Another Deputy came in to work drunk and was sent home, only to be made to drive himself home. I can go on and on. As for the hiring standards being lower here at APD, when was the last time an APD Officer got arrested for stealing supplies and bomb equipment, or got fired for stealing a wallet from a man who called you for help, practiced medicine without a license (protology anyone?), got picked up at Saddle Creek park for soliciting a fellow under cover Deputy (male on male prostitution), got arrested for taking pictures of his teenage step-daughter in provocative poses (and then sending them to eckerds for developing; idiot), got arrested for having a foot fetish and massaging his teenage step-daughter's feet and then attempting to go further, and the clincher (accidently shooting his fellow Deputy, leaving him to die alone in the woods, and then later receiving Officer of The Year honors). Should I go on? Sure we have our share of problems, as does every other agency in this Country, but we don't bad mouth our brother Officers or their agency whenever someone is asking for information prior to applying with that agency.

This entire thing is going to come down to this. Never believe what anybody tells you, always check it out for yourself. If you want to work in Auburndale by all means come down and talk to the staff, if its not your cup of tea, try the SO or vice versa. There will always be problems with deputy's and officer's even though we all do the same job, its just a fact of life. On one side yes, we did have an officer get fired for lieing about being injured by a suspect. On the other hand like the previous poster stated, PCSO has had their blacksheep as well. I would also like to add that a deputy was charged with trading sex for pills if I remember right. I am by no means trying to be bias or sway anybody's opinion as to different agency's. Everyone has their internal problems and sometimes they leak out become bigger issues. I have met some officers that are just in it for a paycheck, as well as deputy's that do the same. I have also met some officers and deputy's that are very great to work with and really know whats going on and enjoy their job. These are the people who you should talk to, not the ones that say a smaller agency sucks, or they don't have good benefits, etc... IMHO you and only you can make the choice as to where you want to work. Don't let others influence your decision before you have all the facts in hand. Just my two cents.

I'm a long time deputy sheriff and say that there's nothing wrong with Auburndale PD. There have been many, many times that I wished I were still there. I was an officer there in '82-'83 and there have been plenty of times that I have wished I had never left. Nothing wrong with working at a smaller agency if that what makes you happy.

just ask someone who lives in pcso's jursidiction, what kind of police service they get. "they" would let you know how bad their police service sucks. i'm just glad i live in a particular city's service area.

I can tell you that I have worked for a small city, and the Sheriff's Office...hands down, I prefer the Sheriff's Office, but thats my choice....The limited contact I have had with APD officers has been positive. I CAN assure you that the new APD Chief is one of the finest people and one of the most competent & professional Police Officers you will ever meet, let alone have the pleasure of working for! I CAN say this as a fact because I worked for him at the small city PD years ago. If you do decide to come to APD and later decide to leave, it certainly will not be because of unfair treatment by Chief Mcleod! Above all other attributes one could give to Chief Mcleod, his sense of fairness and "doing what's right" is the first to be used.