Free for all!

I'm here to declare the Pinellas Park Police Department a free for all for anyone who has an agenda! It is now officially clear that the main shift of focus for the PD has gone from providing quality law enforcement to the citizens of PP to do whatever any supervisor wants to make himself look better. We have one of the charming humans on Earth forming his own coalition of ass ki$$ers with absolutely no intention of getting anything productive done, just surrounding himself with people who will tell him he's the best thing that's ever happened to the world. We have another lunatic in Special OPS who doesn't care what your assignment is or what kind of family life you have, you will do whatever retarded detail he conjures up at any time, for as long as it takes for him to get one extra tick on his stat sheet. A bicycle decoy? Are you serious? Because the rash of stolen bikes plagueing the city is obviously causing massive economic turmoil. Nice..... And now lets talk about patrol..the PD just had a meeting to address manpower issues because we are short staffed, but yet we have CPLs who serve no purpose but to run around and stick there arms. They refuse to take calls all they do is come up with new ways to threaten us with discipline, kick back reports, or question whether or not we should get days off. Better than them, we have LTs who a) never come into work, b) are constantly two-facing and schmoozing there way around the PD, or c) only care about telling us that what we are doing is not enough. Let's address the last one because it is quickly becoming my favorite. We now have a new Plan of Action to address how we can boost our numbers on midnights. I'm not going to go into specific details but check this out. Let's take a look at a Tuesday night because this is really cool. On Tues nights we have 2 CPLs, 2 Sgts, a LT and count 'em 5 officers. So we will be taking 2 officers away from shagging calls to do either a bike violator detail, or traffic enforcement. So that will leave 3 running around answering calls. and 4 superivsors to ensure that nothing goes wrong. This is awesome. and this is from the same LT who claims that if you hold over reports you are going to get a letter in your pending file. So let me ask you this LT. When exactly am I supposed to do them? At 0300? Oh no sir!! I will be either doing my assigned "make you look better" detail, or answering the miriad of piddly calls that trickle in at those hours. Or will you graciously give me from 0600-0700 on my Friday to shove in the reports that I took during the week so I can turn them all in half-assed and full of errors which will, giving you a bonus pat, keep your CPL busy kicking them back! You can't lose!

Nevermind that midnights there are 2 assigned dui units, (one of which is a midnight officer temporarily assigned to dui leaving yet another vacant position in patrol) 3 K-9 cars, and every now and then we are a bike guy floating around.

And you know what the best part about all of this is? None of the admin gives a rats a$$!!!! This is great! Apparently the manpower issue is not whether or not we can relieve some of the burden from patrol but how can we get our supervisors more people to make do ridiculous s--t?

I would ask the admin to maybe take a look at this but why? we have one who is too busy planning his City Manager campain, one who is probably as we speak writing a directive about what color underwear we need, and the other who is off in la-la land trying to find as the police chief of a golf course.

So what do we do? Get X-8 dammit there are calls holding!!!!

"DAAAAAAAAAAANG!

Tell how you really feel...Don't hold back...

Yikes..

POWER TO THE PEOPLE!

Tell it like it is...This place is coasting downhill with a strong wind at their back. Let's look at cutting positions in the bike unit, cis, youth services, etc, but dang it you better keep the Cpls. We need more dead weight on our patrol manpower (oxymoron) and less in the other areas. Please keep the Cpls, add some other supervisors, and cut somemore useful positions. If this place trimmed the FAT and we worked like we did 5 years ago, this place would be a much better place. Moral is at an all time low and other agencies are pulling files. I know the next comment will be to shut up and leave if I'm so miserible, got it , no need for the constant down talking. Is it true we are losing two Detectives from cis? Are they being replaced or is the pd just going to run shorter in there? I guess the admin thought it was better to dump two detectives instead of our planning-research ofc (no hiring lately), crime prevention (is this really working?), or cutting out a Cpt or Lt position (very useful?), or the best get rid of the Cpl program and make these Ofcs work again. I really like working for pppd, but if we take on any more water, we might all get swept away with the tide. I get sick to my stomach when I see our line up looking like 1 lt, 2sgts, 2 Cpls, and 5 ofcs. This means 5 grunts to handle the calls and 5 overlords to read a couple reports, plan a group lunch, and stop at your call to second and third guess your every move. Listen to the radio when something breaks out, I'm trying to transmit important information, then 4 supervisors are jockying for airtime stating the obvious clogging the channel. Ends up being a cluster just so others can try to justify their position, with the ofcs and citizens paying the price. Admin wake up before this place implodes, swallow your pride, admit your mistakes, and right this ship quickly.

THE ONLY DIFFRENCE BETWEEN THIS PLACE AND THE TITANTIC IS................. THEY HAD A BAND.............. :shock: :shock: :shock:

Tell it like it is...This place is coasting downhill with a strong wind at their back. Let's look at cutting positions in the bike unit, cis, youth services, etc, but dang it you better keep the Cpls. We need more dead weight on our patrol manpower (oxymoron) and less in the other areas. Please keep the Cpls, add some other supervisors, and cut somemore useful positions. If this place trimmed the FAT and we worked like we did 5 years ago, this place would be a much better place. Moral is at an all time low and other agencies are pulling files. I know the next comment will be to shut up and leave if I'm so miserible, got it , no need for the constant down talking. Is it true we are losing two Detectives from cis? Are they being replaced or is the pd just going to run shorter in there? I guess the admin thought it was better to dump two detectives instead of our planning-research ofc (no hiring lately), crime prevention (is this really working?), or cutting out a Cpt or Lt position (very useful?), or the best get rid of the Cpl program and make these Ofcs work again. I really like working for pppd, but if we take on any more water, we might all get swept away with the tide. I get sick to my stomach when I see our line up looking like 1 lt, 2sgts, 2 Cpls, and 5 ofcs. This means 5 grunts to handle the calls and 5 overlords to read a couple reports, plan a group lunch, and stop at your call to second and third guess your every move. Listen to the radio when something breaks out, I'm trying to transmit important information, then 4 supervisors are jockying for airtime stating the obvious clogging the channel. Ends up being a cluster just so others can try to justify their position, with the ofcs and citizens paying the price. Admin wake up before this place implodes, swallow your pride, admit your mistakes, and right this ship quickly.

Can you please explain how we had less fat and worked differently five years ago...

since no one is steping up to explain the obvious. five years ago we had no lts, no cpls, there was 1 sgt per shift and almost every zone had 2 ofcs to handle calls for service. things ran smooth, calls were taken, and moral was pretty good. then the pd thought it would be a great idea to act like NYPD or LAPD and promote Lts, Cpls, etc without having the funding to replace the patrol positions. this has created a shortage in patrol, with 3-5 ofcs covering all the calls each shift. now we are taking from specialized positions to cover the shortage, instead of going back to basics and dumping the lts and cpls, we are robbing from peter to pay paul. think about this, have we added additional postions over the past 5 years to the special positions we are taking from now? we are running shorter in these areas from when I started. I remember 8+ ofcs in the bike unit, 9 + in cis, etc. i hope this has explained a little bit of the excessive fat from the prior post.

Okay...we haven't had an 8 person bike unit in over 10 years, CIS has never had 9 detectives....

As for five years ago, you are right, we didn't have three LT's we had Two...

We didn't have corporals, we had SPO's and before that MPO's....

If you want to blame anyone for you being short right now, blame city hall and the taxpayers for voting for amendment one.

We lost three positions due to Amendment one, in addition, NK left and his position wasn't filled and you have about a half dozen officers on either light duty or no duty due to injuries, surgeries etc..

I beleive we are running over eleven short right now in patrol of no fault of the LT's or Cpls....

Place blame where it belongs....

Thanks our situation has nothing to do with being supervisor heavy and officer light, ok?. Now can anyone justify why we need so many supervisors now?

Okay...we haven't had an 8 person bike unit in over 10 years, CIS has never had 9 detectives....

As for five years ago, you are right, we didn't have three LT's we had Two...

We didn't have corporals, we had SPO's and before that MPO's....

If you want to blame anyone for you being short right now, blame city hall and the taxpayers for voting for amendment one.

We lost three positions due to Amendment one, in addition, NK left and his position wasn't filled and you have about a half dozen officers on either light duty or no duty due to injuries, surgeries etc..

I beleive we are running over eleven short right now in patrol of no fault of the LT's or Cpls....

Place blame where it belongs....

This post is complete garbage...5 years ago we had one LT, and the title SPO or MPO was only a title. Your job description never changed at all. You still answered calls. You were considered something along the lines as an FTO, someone to go to when there was a question.

Look the bottom line is this, the problem is no one is looking out for the engine of this police department. There is no advocate for the patrol guys that come in day in and day out and do work. They act like there is some chance of getting a specialized postion or getting promoted but everyone knows that those opportunites are few and far between and the selection process all the way around is pretty much a joke. You have one guy who is on his way into his third specialized position in 8 years. How about we do the math on that one..He has never finished his commitment to one position. So, let's give him another one...good thinking...You have back door crap going on like the "I want to replace the CPL in this unit that I'm losing, so the CPL doesn't have to go back to the road and shag calls." You have a SGT running around telling people that there are "unwritten rules" as to what is expected of us that is directly in conflict with what our SOPs say. There is talk of 12 hour shifts, guys getting moved around blah blah blah and everything is kept either a secret, or is done without any explanation. No raise, our super contract that we allegedly got a few years is being picked at little by little. How much can you take?

I remember a few years ago when you go your evals your SGT actually asked you what your plans were for the PD what positions you were interested and then tried to set up a plan to help YOU MEET YOUR GOALS. Now when you get your evals you get told that you aren't being productive enough and you are not helping the LT MEET HIS GOALS FOR THE SHIFT. Am I the only one that sees a problem with this? Every week when we come in to read off there is some new traffic wave or some new area that we have to keep an eye on blah blah blah all to help other sections of the PD meet there goals. well how about this, how about all of special ops comes out and shags calls for a night so we can run traffic and stop bike violators to keep our LT of our back. Help us meet our goals. Instead of taking our guys away to fill a position somewhere else, pull some of there guys to make up where we are short.

After all, aren't we always told that patrol is the most important section of the PD, well how about you act like it?

I feel sorry for the people on Mids............hang in there guys...a new shift bid is coming up......

You want more traffic? How asbout implementing a program like these guys to truly help people this holiday season.

http://www.officer.com/online/article.j ... 1&id=44307 (http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=44307)

Let's make a true impact on our community.

Texas Police Turn Traffic Tickets into Toy Drive


Posted: Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Updated: November 25th, 2008 11:02 AM EDT


Most Read Most E-mailed E-mail Article Print Article


The Associated Press



SANSOM PARK, Texas --

Some police officers in a North Texas suburb are playing Santa Claus with naughty drivers.

For the next month, some motorists pulled over in Sansom Park will be given a "ticket for tots" instead of a formal citation. Drivers are then asked to drop off a $10 toy at the police station.

"This is a low-income community. A lot of the kids are not going to have a Christmas at all," Martinez says.

While it's not mandatory to donate a toy, police think forgoing writing motorists a ticket could lead people to return the kindness.

Officers have discretion over who gets issued a citation or "ticket for tots" depending on the violation.

Police point out that the average traffic ticket in Sansom Park - a Fort Worth suburb - costs about $165.

Amazing what nerves you hit with you are supervised and you don't like it. Happy, when you just can't take it anymore just say, "may I continue to strive to maintain the Serenity to accept the things that are not mine to change, courage to change the things that I should for the betterment of the planet or even one life upon it, and, Wisdom to know the difference" or the good old standby, quit and police another city or county. It's ok, know when to leave and be good with it. I'm happy and proud of the people I work with (and yes, even you) and I can think of no other place I'd rather be. I know others who we work with and do not post on this site feel the same way I do. I presume you have a family that loves and cares about you and a job to support them. Be thankful or at least pretend or man up and tell someone who can do something about it. If you can't get happy, remember, "all the world's stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances." Know when it's yours.

You make me laugh Mr. Unhappy..there's a reason why my handle is "Happy Soup." I learned a very long time ago, probably before you were hired, that morality levels rise and fall with the tide. I have had many opportunities to leave and still do, but I stay. Not for the city, or it's citizens but for most of the people I work with. There are a list of supervisors that I would gladly stand beside no matter what the circumstances and who I feel would gladly stand beside me. The problem is that there voices are overshadowed by those who feel that they have to make a name for themselves.

Another valuable lesson that I learned many moons ago was that I'm not going to allow those who feel that we are there only to boost there numbers to take my enthusiasm and love for the job. I go to work every day with the same fervor and zeal that I did when I first got here. And no amount of ridiculous details, or silly stat pushes will take that away from me. I go to work happy, and I come home happy. It's all part of the job. But when you take a step back and look at the big picture of what is going on at the agency, you can't help but laugh.

As for my family, what the hell do they have to do with anything? Do you think I come home and gripe about all of this to my family? Absolutely not, because I refuse to think about any of thise beyond my work hours. I used to consider this line of work a life style, but now it's only a job.

So are you posting on Park time?

You have one guy who is on his way into his third specialized position in 8 years. How about we do the math on that one..He has never finished his commitment to one position. So, let's give him another one...good thinking

I hope this was not posted by some special ops CPL with a grudge. I will defend this officer that you speak of in this post for a couple of reasons. He is always stepping up. Over the past year he has been transferred into two specialized positions, and not by choice. Is he crying and complaining? Probably not, although I would if I had to work with those kids. I speak from personal experience when I say that he answers his phone, on or off duty, regardless of the hour, everyday.

You come on here and complain about his movement in this agency but I implore you to tell me anyone more qualified for each of the jobs that he has or has had? I am a true believer in the selection process (5+ years in patrol w/o movement). If this was not the case then maybe he would not have had the opportunities he has had.

The true problems in this agency is that it is like a cancer. We demoralize each other instead of building each other up. Why? Because 385 got ANOTHER specialized position? Are you kidding me. Good for him. No one complains about 352 or 328 or 397.

Ask anyone who has worked with him and besides your complaint, nothing bad can be said about him. I hate to even say this because I know this will turn into a bash Cheese forum but try. And I will defend. Say what you want about me or him but he is a "Company Man" and I mean that in a good way.

Happy holidays, God bless and be safe.

sounds good, thanks for the pep talk.. has nothing to do with our situation...

hey sgt, hit the grammer checker..

hey sgt, hit the grammer checker..

lol....its "grammar" you idiot!

Ps. Bltch all you want. Nothing is going to change here. Just stay clean, apply somewhere else and don't give us a reason to "dirty you up" on your way out the door! Unless you want to work at the SLLPD (Sick Lame and Lazy PD) where 1/2 of your patrol force is on light duty. Carpel tunnel from being a cop? Give me a F/N break! If you didn't want to work mids and weekends, and you thought it might "destroy your marriage" the time to figure that out was in the interview when I asked you if you had a problem with SHIFT WORK. So the message here is, if you don't get your "hardship" approved because daddy misses you at night or you just want to work a certain shift that you don't have enough seniority to get, just feign and injury and pull staples all day from 8-5.

You know how we fix this crap? Have light duty work their original shift and days off and see how quick they feel better. Probably not as much fun pulling staples on mids by yourself with your crappy TUE/WED/THU off. Im sure each of my LT's could create a lot of stuff for you to do during your original work hours.

None of this applies to 377. So don't start your Bltching about that....you know they "type" I am referring to.

I beg to differ on the "forced transfer" of the cheese man. I love me some cheese, but that is quite the traveling man. He hasn't finished an assignment since he started here and none have been forced. He bailed from each one and if someone tells you otherwise, you need to go to a common sense school. I will say he was asked to help out with the SRO position, but this guy gets around specialized positions like herpes did in the 60's. As for the other examples, they are well traveled also, but special people get special treatment for special postions. This place has a predetermined spot for people and we just have to accept that. They will tell you they are trying to get new people into specialized postions to keep them interested and employed, but when it comes down to it, they will put their boys-girls where they want them, qualified or not. This is not a new concept and things will not change. Wait to see the movement around the PD after Jan 1. I think we'll see some of the same old travelers moving to different scenery. Your destiny has been chosen by others, smile and enjoy the ride

I love me some cheese too. But why are we hating on him? He may not have been "forced" out but he does work for his check, and then some. Should we not be happy for him. He is more knowledgable than some of the people who supervise us (him). Keep on trucking cheese, although some hate on people just to hate, I love ya. As for everyone else Happy Turkey Day. I am thankful for all of you and a PAYCHECK. We can bit** all we want but we are all still here and in this together.

Amazing what nerves you hit with you are supervised and you don't like it. Happy, when you just can't take it anymore just say, "may I continue to strive to maintain the Serenity to accept the things that are not mine to change, courage to change the things that I should for the betterment of the planet or even one life upon it, and, Wisdom to know the difference" or the good old standby, quit and police another city or county. It's ok, know when to leave and be good with it. I'm happy and proud of the people I work with (and yes, even you) and I can think of no other place I'd rather be. I know others who we work with and do not post on this site feel the same way I do. I presume you have a family that loves and cares about you and a job to support them. Be thankful or at least pretend or man up and tell someone who can do something about it. If you can't get happy, remember, "all the world's stage, and all the men and women merely players; they have their exits and their entrances." Know when it's yours.


WHY? Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough and, gosh darn it people like me!!!! Let's all say this three times and it will fix everything! :lol: :lol:

You have one guy who is on his way into his third specialized position in 8 years. How about we do the math on that one..He has never finished his commitment to one position. So, let's give him another one...good thinking

I hope this was not posted by some special ops CPL with a grudge. I will defend this officer that you speak of in this post for a couple of reasons. He is always stepping up. Over the past year he has been transferred into two specialized positions, and not by choice. Is he crying and complaining? Probably not, although I would if I had to work with those kids. I speak from personal experience when I say that he answers his phone, on or off duty, regardless of the hour, everyday.

You come on here and complain about his movement in this agency but I implore you to tell me anyone more qualified for each of the jobs that he has or has had? I am a true believer in the selection process (5+ years in patrol w/o movement). If this was not the case then maybe he would not have had the opportunities he has had.

The true problems in this agency is that it is like a cancer. We demoralize each other instead of building each other up. Why? Because 385 got ANOTHER specialized position? Are you kidding me. Good for him. No one complains about 352 or 328 or 397.

Ask anyone who has worked with him and besides your complaint, nothing bad can be said about him. I hate to even say this because I know this will turn into a bash Cheese forum but try. And I will defend. Say what you want about me or him but he is a "Company Man" and I mean that in a good way.

Happy holidays, God bless and be safe.



ok, we know who the "golden boys are" thanks for pointing them out again. These people would have a F***** stroke if they had to actually do police work and o god no take a report.

hey sgt, hit the grammer checker..

lol....its "grammar" you idiot!

Ps. Bltch all you want. Nothing is going to change here. Just stay clean, apply somewhere else and don't give us a reason to "dirty you up" on your way out the door! Unless you want to work at the SLLPD (Sick Lame and Lazy PD) where 1/2 of your patrol force is on light duty. Carpel tunnel from being a cop? Give me a F/N break! If you didn't want to work mids and weekends, and you thought it might "destroy your marriage" the time to figure that out was in the interview when I asked you if you had a problem with SHIFT WORK. So the message here is, if you don't get your "hardship" approved because daddy misses you at night or you just want to work a certain shift that you don't have enough seniority to get, just feign and injury and pull staples all day from 8-5.

You know how we fix this crap? Have light duty work their original shift and days off and see how quick they feel better. Probably not as much fun pulling staples on mids by yourself with your crappy TUE/WED/THU off. Im sure each of my LT's could create a lot of stuff for you to do during your original work hours.

None of this applies to 377. So don't start your Bltching about that....you know they "type" I am referring to.


Very True, what type of injury or bs are we allowing people to do light duty for. Come on this person is on light duty all the time. She wouldn't know police work if it hit her a 65 mph with a siren on.................. She was the same way at the jail, amazing how these people slip thru the process........................ why don't people bid for light duty so we can just expect to be short and not act shocked while everyone else is towing the line.

Ten hours. That is what is expected of you. When we took this job we didn't take expecting to take three calls and do a few BS 34d. Grow up. 10 hours. Does it matter if you get 1 call or 50? No. You are paid to be a police officer. If you think of it like that you will be better off. If you get so busy that you are down on your Friday, and then you find yourself too busy to get caught up them tell the LT "SHOW ME THE MONEY". Unfortunately this is not an eight and hit the gate type profession. And I know this is getting old but if you are not mature enough, and some of you are not, then leave. The funny thing is you don't see 224, 324, 357, or the like complain. Regardless of how busy they are they keep on trucking. Same goes for a lot of others. Now don't get me wrong, 333, 352, 359, 325 You can have em. 360, 328 at least they work for their 7 %. Oh, I like cheese too. I favor Brie or Extra-Aged Appenzeller. Have fun and relax.

To Captain Webster, I refuse to believe that you are in any supervisory role at this PD. If you are, then you are exactly what is wrong with this PD, your answer was unprofessional and condiscending. But like I said before, I don't think you hold any weight here, except for that around your waste.

and to 10 hours, obviously you've never spoken to any of the people you mentioned in your post....

And as for do your 10 hours and be quiet, I do more for this PD beyond the 10 hours that is required of me..I go far above and beyond and have been since I got here. The reason? Because I believe in my job. I care greatly for my co-workers, and I believe that as law enforcement officers we deserve better treatment from those that lead us. Am I asking to be coddled? Oh no sir, just respected as someone who comes in day in and day out and does more than what is asked of me. Do I want recognition? HA! This job is a personal sacrifice and comes with personal rewards..keep your paper and pins, I appreciate the gesture, but this means more to me than any of that. Do I want more money? In these times, I am happy to be employed, so keep your money, spend it on some more trees or equipment to keep my fellow officers safe. So what is it that I ask? Let me do my job. Let me excercise the discretion that we hold so dear, and most of all, let me be trusted to do what is right.

and one last thing, to the guy who asked if I am posting this on "park" time....there is no such thing as "park" time..my life = my time. sometimes I spend it MY time on the computer, sometimes I spend MY time enforcing the law. The other hours of MY time...are not your business.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving..From the Chief to 475.

I think the job is great. For the most part the people we work with are good folks. However there are a few bad eggs that ruin the basket. Im not talking about like the way it was done in the 60's and 70's (although I know we wish it was like that sometimes). All this business with stats, rats and light duty squad etc etc....it takes a toll on all of us. Lets just shag these calls together and at least pretend that we like each other.

To Captain Webster, I refuse to believe that you are in any supervisory role at this PD. If you are, then you are exactly what is wrong with this PD, your answer was unprofessional and condiscending. But like I said before, I don't think you hold any weight here, except for that around your waste.

and to 10 hours, obviously you've never spoken to any of the people you mentioned in your post....

And as for do your 10 hours and be quiet, I do more for this PD beyond the 10 hours that is required of me..I go far above and beyond and have been since I got here. The reason? Because I believe in my job. I care greatly for my co-workers, and I believe that as law enforcement officers we deserve better treatment from those that lead us. Am I asking to be coddled? Oh no sir, just respected as someone who comes in day in and day out and does more than what is asked of me. Do I want recognition? HA! This job is a personal sacrifice and comes with personal rewards..keep your paper and pins, I appreciate the gesture, but this means more to me than any of that. Do I want more money? In these times, I am happy to be employed, so keep your money, spend it on some more trees or equipment to keep my fellow officers safe. So what is it that I ask? Let me do my job. Let me excercise the discretion that we hold so dear, and most of all, let me be trusted to do what is right.

and one last thing, to the guy who asked if I am posting this on "park" time....there is no such thing as "park" time..my life = my time. sometimes I spend it MY time on the computer, sometimes I spend MY time enforcing the law. The other hours of MY time...are not your business.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving..From the Chief to 475.


OOOHHH....Happy learned how to type. I like you. You sure seem to know the answer to everything don't you soup? The fact that you have obviously been fretting and worrying that I am a member of your "command staff" shows how out of touch and unstable and bored you actually are. I could be anyone, public board, remember? Anyone from anywhere, my name and post merely lampooned some of the attitudes in our hallways. Obviously everyone else who read this had the common sense to know that, well, almost everyone.

Your attitude is typical of someone that does not have that much time in grade and has probably only wore one shield in your life. I also appreciate your advise you gave to just "leave." Though not very original, probably some of the best ever gave on these LEO affairs boards. The only problem with that is, when people keep leaving we are forced to hire a lower and lower caliber of officer. Another post mentioned the likes of 224, 324 and 337. These guys have been here from 10 to 21 years. We simply don't hire like that anymore. So as people leave like 292, 382, 365, 375, 374, 378, 388 or 391 our whole agency suffers. When you lose seasoned experienced and good officers the only person that wins is the city manager. Now we do lose some RODS and lazy whiners at times too, and that is a good thing. But I think the good people that leave far outweigh the bad.

I'm not here to attack you. Like you, I enjoy this place and I feel I am lucky to have a job. I grew up with a friend from St. Pete with a very high education that last year was making six figures. Today he is working at "Kinkos" due to losing his big shot hob at Ray J and our current economic situation. When asked by others why I would do this job, one of the reasons I would give is that I will never get rich, but I will never be out of work. We are all in this together and this situation does not have an easy fix. Moving the bike guys and playing the shell game with special units to cover is not the answer. It is a band-aid, just at the great and powerful L1's 12 hour shift idea will be. Want people to leave? He will probably make sure you get your wish! We need to start hiring a different type of officer, the kind that we have not seen here in years. We did a good job getting rid of that kid that we just hired last year. Do not remember his name, but the one that spent about 10 of his 12 months here on light duty. How much money and time and resources did we waste recruiting and securing him when we knew early on about his extensive medical history? We have done this for years. We hired 398 full well knowing about all of the issues, both professional and personal, that she was surrounded in. But we had to "fill spots." Any real agency would have just "Googled" her name once and ran like hell the other direction. But, we needed to just fill some holes.

We need to build this place back from the ground up, or we will always have a 10-12 officer Light Duty Shift and we will never reach our full potential. We are going backwards. We may all think that we do not need community policing, training officers, or other positions but we do not need to regress. I am out....I have "happy time" on my computer just like you!

Thanks for the thoughts detective.

This has actually been a pretty decent string of replys. My question to you people, as I am from another agency, how many Officers are currently on light duty and do any of them have a legitimate reason?

Man, this board is still soaring!

Bottom line is this: Who cares? None of this crap matters. Just ride this gig until it all plays out. More tax reduction is in the cards for Florida. The ship is taking on water slowly, the flooding could increase at any time.

I can't say what the future holds, will we merge into the recently revived concept of a North County Metro agency? Will the S.O. have to take us over first? Will the C.M. eventually have to auction us off to avoid bankruptcy? Will the F.D. merge first and open up funding to put us back into play? You never know and all things are possible. This "agency" is being held together with duct tape and chewing gum right now but tommorrow could be a 180.

If you think things suck, and they mostly do, here are some ways to cope:

1. Realize that this is just a job and not a way of life or a public service. If you are interested in that kind of dedicated service join the military; you will find a way of life there. Service in the military really means something, service in Pinellas Park really doesn't. All this quasi military make believe pretending is nonsense.

2. Realize that this isn't really that hard or risky work. We could be slinging block on a work site or mining for coal. Work on a roof in the summer all day and you''ll laugh at the stat sheets. As far as being risky work, yes it can be; mostly because they make us big targets with the make believe uniforms and self important car markings; but lets face it you can avoid danger if you want yo. Let the booming low rider go and pull over the middle aged lady in the Camry. Never drive over the speed limit....for anything. Practice that "risk management" and "liability limitation" they love to spout off about.

3. Realize that nobody really cares, so why do you? Caring means there is a problem with you and you should do some soul searching. The Council doesn't care about crime (unless it's their property), the police are just window dressing. "We have a police department" is all that matters, not how effective they are or how safe the community is. The public doesn't care either. They are the ones that live here and they are content to settle for less. Sloppy yards, ugly houses, dogs everywhere, mostly rotten youth culture.....they don't want better, they are happy living like this. Deal with them one at a time, when they are victimized, they get mad, then they let it go and go back to drinking beer in their garage. My house is in a good city patrolled by an effective police force that cares about the quality of life in my neighborhood....that's what matters.

4. You need to understand powerful people. Powerful people, such as high level bureaucrats, politicians, the wealthy etc, are good at one thing: self preservation. Most of them have worked hard to get where they are and for what they have and they don't want to lose it. Powerful people get that way through ambition, drive, hard work or work that appears productive, self promotion, persuassion and ruthlessness. They try not to be ruthless, or to appear ruthless, because it makes them unpopular, but if it comes to it they will slit your throat in a heartbeat. This is why so many come off as "sneaky", that stabbing you behind your back is really just how it's done practically.

Most of the people labeled "golden boys" are just people who are playing the game successfully. They are the powerful people just not in power yet. They have successfully identified who the powerful are or those connected to the powerful, and they have allied themselves with them and modeled their behaviors upon them. As this influence grows, these behaviors become norms and expectations, and even policy. When people realize they do not have these social skills, or they are bad at the "game" or they are on the outside of the influential group, they either rehabilitate themselves or they quit the game (becoming "disgruntled").

An excellent case study in this was 374. He was brilliant, a social genius. He performed one of the greatest social turn arounds of all time and then he pulled a double reverse zaby-da on top of that! 374 came from an agency up north and had different ideas about things. 374 disrupted the established order, he rocked the boat. 374 was a good cop, but quickly became one of the most hated officers by the upper and middle management. 374 hated life and he rebelled in many passive and amusing ways. Then one day 374 had a revelation, he saw things very clearly. 374 told some of us he was going to play the game, and win the game.

374 changed his attitude (he became a good phoney just like the powerful). He got in close with one sergeant and did a good job for them. He took on the camera program and volunteered to do things not required. He soon became an FTO, went to a negotiation school, I think he went to driving instructor school too. He basically loaded up on training and goodies for his resume. By this point, they loved 374! He would giggle in private at his amazing feat. Then, when he played them out, he suddenly went to a better agency. They were so mad at him and they lost a lot of money on him. Man, he was the master. A good guy too. He did what few can: he beat the powerful at their own game. None of you are currently more hated than 374 ever was, if he can do it, maybe you can too?

The powerful like people who are "on board". When you are "on board", the powerful feel validated. It's their ship, their policies, their house, and playing along you are saying "You have a lovely home full of nice things". When you argue or complain you are taking a doo doo on their living room floor. You complain, rightly or wrongly, and they feel invalidated, they retaliate with pressure, you then either conform or self destruct. Even when they smile and thank you for your opinion or suggestion, you have won yourself no favors only a place in their mental rolodex of people to punish later. If they really want your advice they will ask for it. Never offer it, unless it is for something new, not already being done, you can add to the party, not change it. Just nod and smile in front of your fellow "law enforcement professionals".

The powerful of any organization use a system of rewards and punishments to keep the underclass in line. Here the main tool is the performance evaluation. If you believe the performance evaluation is an objective assessment of your performance and a tool for self improvement then you let’s have tea in Shangri La with the Easter Bunny and Santa. The evaluation is the gateway to all things: raises, the blue bar award, and specialized positions. If the supervisor likes you, high marks, if not, low marks. Has there ever been a case of a supervisor hating his subordinate personally but begrudgingly acknowledging his wonderful performance on the evaluation? In Patrol it should be easy: just look at the stats right? How about peer review? Peer review is actually one of the components required in order for an occupation to be considered a “professional”, like doctors, scientists, lawyers, etc…..maybe we should stop calling ourselves professionals and realize we are just lucky blue collar folk no matter how we try to church it up with “criminal justice” degrees.

The rewards are mostly given for “being on board”. If you look at most of the promotions, they key ingredient seems to be not leadership ability, knowledge or experience, it’s “being on board”. Once in a while you get several of the traits in one pick, sometimes you only get “being on board”. Once in a while you get someone who is promoted, who they thought was “on board” and either they weren’t or they get “off board”, watch how many resources are directed at getting that person “on board”. There are a lot of good supervisors, many who are even decent people, but they are all “on board”. Notice there is never any dissent among the ruling elite. There are some who have been rewarded with promotion that were once rebellious and talked so much smack, who were going to change things…..all now “on board” reciting the party line, conforming. That early rebelliousness was self serving behavior and rhetoric…we all just want what’s best for us.

The very top of this agency make a lot of money. They want to continue to do so. This whole agency is designed as a money making tool in the form of a pyramid. The top makes the most, and as long as things are stable that money will flow down to the bottom. If you don’t shake things up, you will get a piece. If you do things right, you will be rewarded and get more. Check your ideals at the door and watch your wallet get fat. All government entities are like this to an extent, but I have to say our agency is very good at it.

Let’s face it, we could save money by trimming the top. Corporations trim the upper and middle management (if not the very top) and promote people for lesser pay. We have three captains doing the work of one maybe two. There is one who really has nothing to do. He’s costing two new officers. The LT’s are nice, but not needed. We could do with less sergeants, cut sergeants in half, and make corporal a rank, there you go. The computer programmer gets nearly 100k a year for a system that was new when Stalin was alive. Do you need an Admin Sgt and Professional Standards Officer, in addition to three Captains and a Chief? But that’s the way it is, citywide actually, I have never seen a town with so many bosses.

This was so long sorry............End Part One

Once again...thanks detective

Self preservation. A great way to look at this place. Because when it comes down to it......only you can only count on yourself. Unless your uniform comes with knee pads.

Self preservation. A great way to look at this place. Because when it comes down to it......only you can only count on yourself. Unless your uniform comes with knee pads.


Sounds like you know the game :devil:

Ok, I have to be honest I don't buy any of the recent postings.. You have to be "on board" in order to get anything? The only way to survive is to look out only for yourself?

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that that train of thought is exactly what is wrong with this PD.

THE ONLY DIFFRENCE BETWEEN THIS PLACE AND THE TITANTIC IS................. THEY HAD A BAND.............. :shock: :shock: :shock:

Were they any good?

Man, this board is still soaring!

Bottom line is this: Who cares? None of this crap matters. Just ride this gig until it all plays out. More tax reduction is in the cards for Florida. The ship is taking on water slowly, the flooding could increase at any time.

I can't say what the future holds, will we merge into the recently revived concept of a North County Metro agency? Will the S.O. have to take us over first? Will the C.M. eventually have to auction us off to avoid bankruptcy? Will the F.D. merge first and open up funding to put us back into play? You never know and all things are possible. This "agency" is being held together with duct tape and chewing gum right now but tommorrow could be a 180.

If you think things suck, and they mostly do, here are some ways to cope:

1. Realize that this is just a job and not a way of life or a public service. If you are interested in that kind of dedicated service join the military; you will find a way of life there. Service in the military really means something, service in Pinellas Park really doesn't. All this quasi military make believe pretending is nonsense.

2. Realize that this isn't really that hard or risky work. We could be slinging block on a work site or mining for coal. Work on a roof in the summer all day and you''ll laugh at the stat sheets. As far as being risky work, yes it can be; mostly because they make us big targets with the make believe uniforms and self important car markings; but lets face it you can avoid danger if you want yo. Let the booming low rider go and pull over the middle aged lady in the Camry. Never drive over the speed limit....for anything. Practice that "risk management" and "liability limitation" they love to spout off about.

3. Realize that nobody really cares, so why do you? Caring means there is a problem with you and you should do some soul searching. The Council doesn't care about crime (unless it's their property), the police are just window dressing. "We have a police department" is all that matters, not how effective they are or how safe the community is. The public doesn't care either. They are the ones that live here and they are content to settle for less. Sloppy yards, ugly houses, dogs everywhere, mostly rotten youth culture.....they don't want better, they are happy living like this. Deal with them one at a time, when they are victimized, they get mad, then they let it go and go back to drinking beer in their garage. My house is in a good city patrolled by an effective police force that cares about the quality of life in my neighborhood....that's what matters.

4. You need to understand powerful people. Powerful people, such as high level bureaucrats, politicians, the wealthy etc, are good at one thing: self preservation. Most of them have worked hard to get where they are and for what they have and they don't want to lose it. Powerful people get that way through ambition, drive, hard work or work that appears productive, self promotion, persuassion and ruthlessness. They try not to be ruthless, or to appear ruthless, because it makes them unpopular, but if it comes to it they will slit your throat in a heartbeat. This is why so many come off as "sneaky", that stabbing you behind your back is really just how it's done practically.

Most of the people labeled "golden boys" are just people who are playing the game successfully. They are the powerful people just not in power yet. They have successfully identified who the powerful are or those connected to the powerful, and they have allied themselves with them and modeled their behaviors upon them. As this influence grows, these behaviors become norms and expectations, and even policy. When people realize they do not have these social skills, or they are bad at the "game" or they are on the outside of the influential group, they either rehabilitate themselves or they quit the game (becoming "disgruntled").

An excellent case study in this was 374. He was brilliant, a social genius. He performed one of the greatest social turn arounds of all time and then he pulled a double reverse zaby-da on top of that! 374 came from an agency up north and had different ideas about things. 374 disrupted the established order, he rocked the boat. 374 was a good cop, but quickly became one of the most hated officers by the upper and middle management. 374 hated life and he rebelled in many passive and amusing ways. Then one day 374 had a revelation, he saw things very clearly. 374 told some of us he was going to play the game, and win the game.

374 changed his attitude (he became a good phoney just like the powerful). He got in close with one sergeant and did a good job for them. He took on the camera program and volunteered to do things not required. He soon became an FTO, went to a negotiation school, I think he went to driving instructor school too. He basically loaded up on training and goodies for his resume. By this point, they loved 374! He would giggle in private at his amazing feat. Then, when he played them out, he suddenly went to a better agency. They were so mad at him and they lost a lot of money on him. Man, he was the master. A good guy too. He did what few can: he beat the powerful at their own game. None of you are currently more hated than 374 ever was, if he can do it, maybe you can too?

The powerful like people who are "on board". When you are "on board", the powerful feel validated. It's their ship, their policies, their house, and playing along you are saying "You have a lovely home full of nice things". When you argue or complain you are taking a doo doo on their living room floor. You complain, rightly or wrongly, and they feel invalidated, they retaliate with pressure, you then either conform or self destruct. Even when they smile and thank you for your opinion or suggestion, you have won yourself no favors only a place in their mental rolodex of people to punish later. If they really want your advice they will ask for it. Never offer it, unless it is for something new, not already being done, you can add to the party, not change it. Just nod and smile in front of your fellow "law enforcement professionals".

The powerful of any organization use a system of rewards and punishments to keep the underclass in line. Here the main tool is the performance evaluation. If you believe the performance evaluation is an objective assessment of your performance and a tool for self improvement then you let’s have tea in Shangri La with the Easter Bunny and Santa. The evaluation is the gateway to all things: raises, the blue bar award, and specialized positions. If the supervisor likes you, high marks, if not, low marks. Has there ever been a case of a supervisor hating his subordinate personally but begrudgingly acknowledging his wonderful performance on the evaluation? In Patrol it should be easy: just look at the stats right? How about peer review? Peer review is actually one of the components required in order for an occupation to be considered a “professional”, like doctors, scientists, lawyers, etc…..maybe we should stop calling ourselves professionals and realize we are just lucky blue collar folk no matter how we try to church it up with “criminal justice” degrees.

The rewards are mostly given for “being on board”. If you look at most of the promotions, they key ingredient seems to be not leadership ability, knowledge or experience, it’s “being on board”. Once in a while you get several of the traits in one pick, sometimes you only get “being on board”. Once in a while you get someone who is promoted, who they thought was “on board” and either they weren’t or they get “off board”, watch how many resources are directed at getting that person “on board”. There are a lot of good supervisors, many who are even decent people, but they are all “on board”. Notice there is never any dissent among the ruling elite. There are some who have been rewarded with promotion that were once rebellious and talked so much smack, who were going to change things…..all now “on board” reciting the party line, conforming. That early rebelliousness was self serving behavior and rhetoric…we all just want what’s best for us.

The very top of this agency make a lot of money. They want to continue to do so. This whole agency is designed as a money making tool in the form of a pyramid. The top makes the most, and as long as things are stable that money will flow down to the bottom. If you don’t shake things up, you will get a piece. If you do things right, you will be rewarded and get more. Check your ideals at the door and watch your wallet get fat. All government entities are like this to an extent, but I have to say our agency is very good at it.

Let’s face it, we could save money by trimming the top. Corporations trim the upper and middle management (if not the very top) and promote people for lesser pay. We have three captains doing the work of one maybe two. There is one who really has nothing to do. He’s costing two new officers. The LT’s are nice, but not needed. We could do with less sergeants, cut sergeants in half, and make corporal a rank, there you go. The computer programmer gets nearly 100k a year for a system that was new when Stalin was alive. Do you need an Admin Sgt and Professional Standards Officer, in addition to three Captains and a Chief? But that’s the way it is, citywide actually, I have never seen a town with so many bosses.

This was so long sorry............End Part One

Just wanted to say thanks for all the thought you put into that post. It was well written, well thought out, and 100% true. These are the kind of posts that make supervisors who pretend to be officers (ie Happy Soup) look like complete idiots. They're just not educated or smart enough to reply with anything factual. They just keep spewing garbage hoping to slow the avalanche terrible moral. The truth prevails, and nobody buys your crap. Mr.Turd hit the nail on the head, and it doesn't take a genius to see the writing on the wall. Deny, deny, deny - you will deny it to the end, don't you realize we see this trash on a daily basis with every shoplifter we arrest?

I heard about this post and thought I would take a look. I am not going to make comments as I made a promise to Chief Thomas many years ago. Only she and I know the promise that was made by me. People under her did not follow, but that is her business. I am posting this for one particular reason. The Sgt. mentioned is one heck of a man and I would lay down my life to this day for him. He is a good and honorable man. I hope my leaving did not hamper his career. My final decision to leave came from a decision made about a female officer who has since been fired.

For those who care, Harry is doing well. He is being treated well and from what I see, he is in his element. We had coffee the other day and he looked GREAT. He was eating lots of Pez from his dispenser (lol), but had a look I had not seen in years.

You have no right to make a comment anyway. Why do you think anyone cares about your sarcastic and non-funny opinions? But seriously, that was a slick game you pulled with the agency towards the end. That is worth commenting about.

"I asked Santa to be a camera operator this year and all I got was this lump of coal!!"......little Rusty from Pinellas Park.

Ho Ho Ho !

I heard about this post and thought I would take a look. I am not going to make comments as I made a promise to Chief Thomas many years ago. Only she and I know the promise that was made by me. People under her did not follow, but that is her business. I am posting this for one particular reason. The Sgt. mentioned is one heck of a man and I would lay down my life to this day for him. He is a good and honorable man. I hope my leaving did not hamper his career. My final decision to leave came from a decision made about a female officer who has since been fired.

For those who care, Harry is doing well. He is being treated well and from what I see, he is in his element. We had coffee the other day and he looked GREAT. He was eating lots of Pez from his dispenser (lol), but had a look I had not seen in years.

You heard about this post and thought you would take a look...hmmm. Analogy, I've only had two beers officer. You sense of self importance is troubling. I dont think your leaving hampered anyones career????????????????????????????? Even the chief is well, still the chief w/o you.