ABT is Proposing a cut in 8 LEO positions and closing 1 ofc

Wow, looks like management is looking out for us, agents. Just go and look at the proposed budget cuts ABT has submitted for us and they have told us nothing, as usual. They are cutting 8 LEO positions and closing the entire Key West Office!!!! Don't believe me, go to: http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/DBPRVIII-B.pdf. :( :( :( :o

A most excellent idea. No reason to have a Keys office. Can't keep it staffed anyway. Eight less agents? Who would notice? There are at least that many on the way out now.

The link does not work already - guess management had it removed - oh well, they are leaving on 10/01/07 - maybe things are going to change - but I will not hold my breath...maybe a few less majors positions here and a few less captains positions could save the agesnts - two for one sounds like a good deal to me!

Eliminate major's positions? Are you insane? That is the best position in the whole state. Just think about it. Seventy three thousand dollars ($73,000) for supervising one captain. Mark Knoffler had it right. Money for nothing. That's the way you do it. I'm hoping for one of those positions myself.

The link actually does work, but you have to remove the the last period after the "pdf" in the ending. But, since I'm a nice guy, I'll give it to you again here: http://www.flgov.com/pdfs/DBPRVIII-B.pdf

I recommend you print this out and keep it before it gets blocked for real!

The part concerning the agents is at the bottom of page 9 and the beginning of 10. If this happens, the workload in SoFla will go through the roof. Hey, maybe home offices weren't a bad idea after all...? Isn't it cheaper to give us laptops with air cards than it is to maintain fully furnished offices?

Also, here are a few novel ideas: F%$K the KPI's, concentrate on the important things, and raise vice taxes (it seems to generate good money for the feds, so why not us?).

And finally, since my name suggests I'm comical, here's a joke:

A man applied to be an agent with ABT. At the interview, he was told it was good job, so he took it. Bad move.

Yeah, I'm not laughing either. :twisted:

ABT has not grown in 40 years. The number of licensed premises has grown 500%. The number of positions has decreased over the years. What does that tell you?
Uncle Buck said it best. We are necessary - not important. If you read some of the posts in other forums, you will see that sentiment is shared by many other agencies. It's a good thing John Ellis Bush had the foresight to fund "license sleaze" because we wouldn't be able to keep up with the paperwork otherwise.

[guestabt]

Here is a thought or two.. stop making us make file folders for every little thing. It is already in Licensee, no reason to make two or three copies of the same thing for different files and cabinet drawers. Assign zones to agents, police work is about zones, the benefits far outweigh the negatives, it can work we just need to make it work. I have witnessed on several occasions when complaints come in they are assigned by the order the come in. If 5 complaints come in they are assigned to 5 different agent, even if the complaints are in the same county, so now 5 different agent have to travel to the same county to work the 5 complaints, this just waste gas and manpower.
How many complaints could be handled over the phone? It is about time the secretaries get paid for doing something other than surf the web or go on ebay.
This could be a great place to work, I hope it gets back to that before too long.

You are right as rain. LicenseEase was sold to us (or crammed down our throats) as a step toward the future. I was told no more paper files, no more waste, no more of the old way of doing business. The idea was everyone would have a laptop and easy access to the system. You could look up anything anywhere at any time. A printer in the car and presto - instant neatly prepped notices, etc. What a crock of crap. Now we input and print and file. Input, print and file. IPF.
The zone idea is a good one. Sort of like community policing - what a concept. Since we have a history of taking programs from other agencies and modifying them to fit our way of doing business, maybe we can sell this idea to the new management team. Now all we need to do is come up with a cool name for it like ICARE!!!!! I can't hardly type this without breaking into fits of laughter. IPF Sometimes I crack myself up.

Hey all - thanks for the help with the link - will print it out - nice to see the administration screwing ABT agents again - I feel bad for the agents in Miami - we here up North that down there they cannot even fill the staff positions they have and they keep losing more people everyday due to mismanagement - I guess the northern region aint that bad - I guess the DAR's going away is a start - I hear the KPI's are going away too - some people have had them reduced for having special assignments - typical administration. Not fair to the rank and file. What are the Lt. and two agents in the Keys going to do if this plan goed through? Get fired? I hope they sue. These people need to start taking control of this place - HELP PBA - get up and freaking say something about this!

I think a big problem for PBA is a lack of dues paying members in ABT. I don't know anyone that is a member in my area. It is hard for the PBA to show interest when the represented class doesn't care enough to join.

I don't see how the workload in south Florida would go up with the Key West office closing. There are a limited number of slots and a limited number of hours. There is no overtime to do the extra work, or to pay for the extra hours of driving to and from the Keys.
The work load didn't go up when the other 8 or so offices around the state closed. Here is a thought. Close all the offices and send everyone home with a laptop. We could use the all the homes as a storage depot for the office furniture. Take the license files to the dump, since they are never current or relevant. Everything you need to know about a licensee is on license ease. The public never comes to the office anyway. The only people that venture in to an office are either trying to find someone to figure their surcharge or get a license. Just do it all online. I have already thought this through, so don't laugh just stay with me. The customer contact center can handle all the calls and route the one call needing follow up to your blackberrry. License ease can notify you by email of any new licenses operating in your zone. I know this would be an enhancement but it can work and be cost effective. I smell a "productivity award" for this. You log on to license ease, review the info on the new license, go to the premise and inspect for compliance. Issue your official notice or make a case and move to the next one. The database could also toss in a few randoms and you now have a full day's work. All you would need to do is stop in and check with the "locals" collect the complaints and work them when you are not doing the inspections or surveys generated by the system. Just think of the savings. Swap all those cars for the newest rage -- Hybrids---and you now have the potential for a governor's award for going green. By now you are fascinated by the possibilties, but are concerned with what happens to the admin staff. I have thought of that too. They can become inspectors or work from home. The net is full of work at home opportunities and this would be a good chance to explore making more money. The admin staff could actually sub contract with other states to provide "online" services. Just think - ABT could actually generate income off their employees. Instead of wasting time on ebay selling trinkets to the masses, they could be anwering the phones for the
Puerto Rico Highway Patrol. Dell does it. Why not Florida? A new way of doing business. I know there are skeptics out there but just think of the possibilities.

The link does not work already - guess management had it removed - oh well, they are leaving on 10/01/07 - maybe things are going to change - but I will not hold my breath...maybe a few less majors positions here and a few less captains positions could save the agesnts - two for one sounds like a good deal to me!

Who is leaving on 10/01/07 ?????????

The Director has indicated he will leave on or about October 1, 2007. It would stand to reason the Chief will follow.

Did you ever stop to notice that all agencies, when faced with budget cuts, offer something that they know no one will take? THat has been theplan around Tallahassee for decades and who actually lost LEO positions?

The director and chief ARE leaving on October 1st. Drago is starting to clean house - hopefully the majors will be next and we can get some command staff in here who work instead of drive around saying how great they and their lackies are! Maybe if the majors came to more than the office they are based out of more than once a month, they would know what the heck is going on in their regions - or maybe we can have some more training in how to do license inspections from someone who just got off probation last week but got detached to a task force....

Why would the majors even want to travel the district? I mean most of them are only responsible for one captain. I can't imagine the work involved with that task!!! Really. I wonder what the FHP majors would say if they were told that they were only responsible for a single captain?
The new Tall major is from Broward, and has a good rep in LE. I would guess he shares some of the same history as Drago and may even be friends. Maybe, just maybe.

Did you ever stop to notice that all agencies, when faced with budget cuts, offer something that they know no one will take? THat has been theplan around Tallahassee for decades and who actually lost LEO positions?

Well apparently you were not here about 8 years ago when we lost about 25 sworn positions with the "proposed budget cut plan". You don't say you can do without an office, unless you are prepared to back that up.

ABT lost a couple dozen positions during the infamous "transition."
I have an ALPHA list from the reign of "King Richard" with 205 law enforcement positions on it.

[Mod 361]

It's not so much office closures, it's more about closure of the physical office. We need the personnel, but not the physical location itself. All we need is a place to go if we need for certain things, i.e.: Evidence, seizures, drop off papers, etc. The rest can be done remotely from a laptop with an air card. I don't need, nor want any State office furniture.

Any rumors as to who will be the new Director?

I have heard AJ Smith, Bruce Ashley, Joe Mato, Pat Roberts, Mike Wheeler, Elwood Stephens and a few other lower on the list.....

I also heard there is a LT. in north florida that has a friend whose cousin used to clean the pool at the mansion. But that is not the connection. The pool guy used to moonlight as a DLE agent. The agent had to walk the FIRST DOG on the night shift and the agent used to bake cookies for the dog. Now here is the interesting part. The Big Man himself ate the cookies meant for the dog. Well that really pissed off the dog so the dog and the agent drove down to KK to re-up. While standing in line, the dog gets a thorn stuck in his paw. An ABT agent working nights at KK pulls the thorn out (the DLE agent was busy on his cell taking do-nut orders.)
But none of that really matters because the connection comes from the fact that the ABT agent is friends with the Big Man and the Big Man was moved when he heard the story. It's just a matter of time.

AJ Smith for Director? Are you kidding me? This guy was a do nothing when he was Chief and he was ran off from that job if truth be known. If he gets the job then you will see just how "political" the Directors job really is. He is A Joke!

But if we got AJ would there still be winers out there? On another forum they seem to think anyone else will make things all peachy! I think there is some misconceptions out there like "we have Drago right where we want him". Are you kidding? He is a politician and will do what makes him look best for the moment.

But if we got AJ would there still be winers out there? On another forum they seem to think anyone else will make things all peachy! I think there is some misconceptions out there like "we have Drago right where we want him". Are you kidding? He is a politician and will do what makes him look best for the moment.

True that about Drago. He is nothing but a politician and thinks people dont know what he is all about. He pretends to be the oh so great listner and oh I want to know what is going on, how can I make things better. Yea, right we have seen people just like him come and go. But hey, lets use him while we can.

But if we got AJ would there still be winers out there? On another forum they seem to think anyone else will make things all peachy! I think there is some misconceptions out there like "we have Drago right where we want him". Are you kidding? He is a politician and will do what makes him look best for the moment.

True that about Drago. He is nothing but a politician and thinks people dont know what he is all about. He pretends to be the oh so great listner and oh I want to know what is going on, how can I make things better. Yea, right we have seen people just like him come and go. But hey, lets use him while we can.

Actually, Drago is a pretty good guy from what I gathered. I didn't make him out to be the typical politician type Deputy Secretary. In fact, I had a chance to speak with him at Spring Break this year and you could tell he worked in real law enforcement before. I could tell back then he saw through the divsion's bull. He seemed to scratch his head when he found out that people were being promoted to Captain with little or no Law Enforcement and/or ABT experience. He didn't comment, but he appeared dumbfounded.

But if we got AJ would there still be winers out there? On another forum they seem to think anyone else will make things all peachy! I think there is some misconceptions out there like "we have Drago right where we want him". Are you kidding? He is a politician and will do what makes him look best for the moment.

True that about Drago. He is nothing but a politician and thinks people dont know what he is all about. He pretends to be the oh so great listner and oh I want to know what is going on, how can I make things better. Yea, right we have seen people just like him come and go. But hey, lets use him while we can.

Actually, Drago is a pretty good guy from what I gathered. I didn't make him out to be the typical politician type Deputy Secretary. In fact, I had a chance to speak with him at Spring Break this year and you could tell he worked in real law enforcement before. I could tell back then he saw through the divsion's bull. He seemed to scratch his head when he found out that people were being promoted to Captain with little or no Law Enforcement and/or ABT experience. He didn't comment, but he appeared dumbfounded.

You have not gathered much and he stays dumbfounded. :shock:

The director and chief ARE leaving on October 1st. Drago is starting to clean house - hopefully the majors will be next and we can get some command staff in here who work instead of drive around saying how great they and their lackies are! Maybe if the majors came to more than the office they are based out of more than once a month, they would know what the heck is going on in their regions - or maybe we can have some more training in how to do license inspections from someone who just got off probation last week but got detached to a task force....

Thanks to Major Patrick Roberts.