Question

Okay fellas what can be done to make you feel better and appreciated at this department. I hear complaints but no resolutions! Answer me this, what would YOU do to make this a better department?

quit and apply with the SO or somewhere else.

Top Dog,

While I am just a lowly corporal I do know a little about leadership and morale. I have to say that morale is truly low right now and its not 100% the administrations fault. I understand we can not get a raise right now the current state of the economy does not allow for it and I understand. We are now up to staff and its fantastic, I recall a time on midnights when it was only one or two officers on shift and we always had to ask for hold overs, those days are over thats a plus.
However, currently there is no trust between the men on patrol and the administration. We feel that the citizens are always right no matter what and that we are guilty until proven innocent. Unfortunately this has been proven true with arbitrations against the administration and how they punish officers. The old website used to only have a link posted to complain on an officer. The administration seems to care so much about what people think and won't stand up for us. I'm not going to whine about the traffic stats, because two aday seems fair, however for an administrator to throw a hissy fit that three officers are sitting together running traffic is ridiculous. If a citizen calls and says, "why are there three officers sitting together" tell them they are keeping you safe and running traffic. Also, it seems there is no integrity in the upper administration. They get upset if three or more officers eat lunch together but then all of admin goes to lunch together. I do enjoy my job and enjoy my co-workers, personally all I ask from the administration and to make the agency better is support from the administration. To not forget where you came from, that you to use to hump a zone and deal with people that drive you insane. Respect is all we need. Respect would change the agency 100%.

Okay lowly corporal,

You speak llike you've been here a while and I doubt that, I doubt your a corporal, don't pretend to be someone you are not! I am a corporal and have been here a long time. You blame many people for many things in your response, but the question was, "What would you do"? You had no answers, you just blamed everyone else.

See I saw an issue and confronted someone with that particular one that you mentioned. When I saw our web site and noticed that it was missing an area for compliments on an officer, I brought that to the attention of the right person who then took it to the chief, who made the decision to shut the web page down and revamp it, it no contains an area for officer compliments. it may be small, but it was an issue that other employees above us felt should have been addressed too, and was changed. What have you done, *****ed? It may have been a small issue but I took the initiative to talk to someone about it.

There are a lot of issues here that we all deal with or hear about, it's how we handle them that makes us the people we are, how are you handling it? I again ask the question that "Top Dog" did "how would you make things better"? Have you tried to get something changed here or do you just not care? Have you stepped up, or sat back and waited until the next ship comes in to jump on board?

Things are by no means perfect here, and morale is what it is. If you stay out of trouble do your job and go home safely, what else do you want. The job is stressful enough without all the other crap. Just remember this HAKUNA MATATA!

Okay lowly corporal,

You speak llike you've been here a while and I doubt that, I doubt your a corporal, don't pretend to be someone you are not! I am a corporal and have been here a long time.

Riiiiiiiiiight..your are the PROUDEST guy I have EVER seen raise to the "rank" of Corporal!

See I saw an issue and confronted someone with that particular one that you mentioned. When I saw our web site and noticed that it was missing an area for compliments on an officer, I brought that to the attention of the right person who then took it to the chief, who made the decision to shut the web page down and revamp it, it no contains an area for officer compliments. it may be small, but it was an issue that other employees above us felt should have been addressed too, and was changed.

A.K.A. I am ki&&ing A*s*s* to try and make it to a REAL RANK like SERGEANT or above so I found a meaningless issue and brought it to the right person who would mention my name the most to help me get my three stripes!

There are a lot of issues here that we all deal with or hear about, it's how we handle them that makes us the people we are, how are you handling it?

See my above post on A*S*S* kissing 101 boys and girls and then you may be able to make it to the rank of Corporal and say you've been here for a "Really long time"....

I

Things are by no means perfect here, and morale is what it is.

Look "Old Timer" Corporal we have no idea if you are a Corporal who has been here for a while or not (but man are you proud of those TWO stripes). We do know, by your post, your a rear end kisser who wants a huge pat on the back for making a change on a computer website! Hey buddy, consider this your "pat" on the back!

Okay lowly corporal,

You speak llike you've been here a while and I doubt that, I doubt your a corporal, don't pretend to be someone you are not! I am a corporal and have been here a long time. You blame many people for many things in your response, but the question was, "What would you do"? You had no answers, you just blamed everyone else.

See I saw an issue and confronted someone with that particular one that you mentioned. When I saw our web site and noticed that it was missing an area for compliments on an officer, I brought that to the attention of the right person who then took it to the chief, who made the decision to shut the web page down and revamp it, it no contains an area for officer compliments. it may be small, but it was an issue that other employees above us felt should have been addressed too, and was changed. What have you done, *****ed? It may have been a small issue but I took the initiative to talk to someone about it.

There are a lot of issues here that we all deal with or hear about, it's how we handle them that makes us the people we are, how are you handling it? I again ask the question that "Top Dog" did "how would you make things better"? Have you tried to get something changed here or do you just not care? Have you stepped up, or sat back and waited until the next ship comes in to jump on board?

Things are by no means perfect here, and morale is what it is. If you stay out of trouble do your job and go home safely, what else do you want. The job is stressful enough without all the other crap. Just remember this HAKUNA MATATA!

You have got to be the most arrogant CORPORAL I have ever seen in two decades of policework. If this agency is full of guys like you waiting to be promoted to a real rank then God help us all!

Short timer your an idiot! Let me clarify something for you jackass, 1 i've been here a while and have seen more changes than your carrer has even had, 2 I'm not in line nor will I take the Sgts test, however even if I did that's one step ahead of you, and by judging by your screen name your about to run off to another department, or be fired which ever it may be, 3 atleast I'm trying to make a difference in a police department that I work for and has been very good to me, and not driving around complaining that it's better some where else.
I ask you this, have you made any contributions to this department? Have you put an effort into something other than telling your buddies how bad it is here? Are you even off probation? Seems to me that you haven't been around long enough to even have an opinion, atleast an educated one.
If you are one of many that are looking to leave, it's probably best. No this isn't the best deparment to work for but I'm sure there are worse in this state, but if all you can do is complain or make nasty comments about the ones that do care and are trying to make a difference you probably are not a cop I would want to work with, and probably not a good one anyway. There are many in this department that take pride and want to advance in their career, doesn't mean they kiss ass. Much like yourself they are trying to feed a family and make the best out of this job. I would challlenge you to try and be the best that you can, but I'll bet your just going to run off, so good bye we don't need you! The attitude that you have is why this place suffers anyway! your just an infection to the Ocala Police Department and the best thing you can do is leave if nothing else keep your mouth shut and opinions to yourself, because you are the only one that those matter to anyway. :lol: Jackass

I am not sure how it was back in the day, but I see just a handfull of people who are always *****ing about something, and the guys that are *****ing have only been here less than a year or maybe a little longer. In my mind they have NOTHING to ***** about since they have not been here long enough to *****. The guys who should be upset are the senior guys, the guys and gals who have been through alot. sure there are problems here just like anywhere else. But we have jobs, no threats of layoffs, no cut in pay, we are still one of the only agencies still hiring officers. Sure not all of us have take home cars, the ones who have them deserve them and all the new guys will one day get one. I would rather have a secure job, benefits, paycheck and no worries when I come into work there will a letter on the door saying sorry we are closed!!! I agree that changes could be made, I am sure the senior guys have great compaints and miss things the way they used to be. I look up to most of the senior guys and try and stay as positive as possible becasue this is the career that I love and I am sure everyone else loves or used to love doing.

Stay safe

I am not sure how it was back in the day, but I see just a handfull of people who are always *****ing about something, and the guys that are *****ing have only been here less than a year or maybe a little longer. In my mind they have NOTHING to ***** about since they have not been here long enough to *****. The guys who should be upset are the senior guys, the guys and gals who have been through alot. sure there are problems here just like anywhere else. But we have jobs, no threats of layoffs, no cut in pay, we are still one of the only agencies still hiring officers. Sure not all of us have take home cars, the ones who have them deserve them and all the new guys will one day get one. I would rather have a secure job, benefits, paycheck and no worries when I come into work there will a letter on the door saying sorry we are closed!!! I agree that changes could be made, I am sure the senior guys have great compaints and miss things the way they used to be. I look up to most of the senior guys and try and stay as positive as possible becasue this is the career that I love and I am sure everyone else loves or used to love doing.

Stay safe
Amen brother! Tell these new ones to go about it and shut up!

Short timer your an idiot! Let me clarify something for you jackarse, 1 i've been here a while and have seen more changes than your carrer has even had, 2 I'm not in line nor will I take the Sgts test, however even if I did that's one step ahead of you, and by judging by your screen name your about to run off to another department, or be fired which ever it may be, 3 atleast I'm trying to make a difference in a police department that I work for and has been very good to me, and not driving around complaining that it's better some where else.


Please learn to spell the word "career" before you try to use it in a post Corporal Moron. Second, I would bet a year of my paychecks I have seen more change in this agency in my time than you ever will, your 10-15 years, maybe, as a member of the Ocala Police Department means nothing. I did not "slam" my agency in my response to you, I "slammed" you for the most arrogant post I have seen on here in a while. Nobody cares what positive changes you have done and if you did it for the better of our agency why do you feel the need to post it in this website? One reason Corporal, you want recognition. If you want to help out our agency do it, not for selfish reasons, but to make us stand out again as an elite LE agency. Like I said earlier, you are an arrogant officer but you have something you should be proud of, at least you have two stripes :snicker: . I don't care if you think I have 2 minutes on as an OPD officer or 2 seconds, facts are facts young man. Good luck and Congrats on getting some more recognition for you heroic actions to get the computer website more user friendly, boy your bravery has really shown through so be proud.

Short Timer you are an idiot. If the best you have is that career was spelled wrong and I have two stripes to your none, may GOD will let you sleep better at night. You will soon be out of here and on your way to bringing down another agency or fired as I said before. It's to bad that you spend your time putting me down because I've moved up here and your moving on. That shows what kind of loser you really are, and that's fine that you have that attitude because you wouldn't go far here anyway. The point I was making so you will understand is that I don't sit back and complain about problems that I can try and make a difference about. If you actually had more time here you would know that two stripes is a pay raise and nothing else, I'm proud of where I am, and of what I do, if you think I'm arrogant for that, then yes I am, so do a little better to put me down next time, atleast there are still a few that try to make a difference and don't run away. I've proven myself, I don't have to prove it to you or anyone else, as I see it your the one on the hotseat, and by the comments you have made here, no matter where you go or what you do you aren't going to change. Your going to sit back and criticize everyone else for being the loser you are. In all honesty it's probably a good thing your leaving, if you really are. Your negative energy brings everyone down that reads this, and we have enough issues to deal with without your help. Good luck to you I really hope you find peace within yourself, so that you don't have to be so negative around others at your new agency.

Short timer your an idiot! Let me clarify something for you jackarse, 1 i've been here a while and have seen more changes than your carrer has even had, 2 I'm not in line nor will I take the Sgts test, however even if I did that's one step ahead of you, and by judging by your screen name your about to run off to another department, or be fired which ever it may be, 3 atleast I'm trying to make a difference in a police department that I work for and has been very good to me, and not driving around complaining that it's better some where else.

For what it's worth i am proud of what I've done, what have you done......oh yeah your leaving, your right you are doing more, this will be a better place without you, thank you!
Please learn to spell the word "career" before you try to use it in a post Corporal Moron. Second, I would bet a year of my paychecks I have seen more change in this agency in my time than you ever will, your 10-15 years, maybe, as a member of the Ocala Police Department means nothing. I did not "slam" my agency in my response to you, I "slammed" you for the most arrogant post I have seen on here in a while. Nobody cares what positive changes you have done and if you did it for the better of our agency why do you feel the need to post it in this website? One reason Corporal, you want recognition. If you want to help out our agency do it, not for selfish reasons, but to make us stand out again as an elite LE agency. Like I said earlier, you are an arrogant officer but you have something you should be proud of, at least you have two stripes :snicker: . I don't care if you think I have 2 minutes on as an OPD officer or 2 seconds, facts are facts young man. Good luck and Congrats on getting some more recognition for you heroic actions to get the computer website more user friendly, boy your bravery has really shown through so be proud.

Short Timer you are an idiot. If the best you have is that career was spelled wrong and I have two stripes to your none, may GOD will let you sleep better at night. You will soon be out of here and on your way to bringing down another agency or fired as I said before. It's to bad that you spend your time putting me down because I've moved up here and your moving on. That shows what kind of loser you really are, and that's fine that you have that attitude because you wouldn't go far here anyway. The point I was making so you will understand is that I don't sit back and complain about problems that I can try and make a difference about. If you actually had more time here you would know that two stripes is a pay raise and nothing else, I'm proud of where I am, and of what I do, if you think I'm arrogant for that, then yes I am, so do a little better to put me down next time, atleast there are still a few that try to make a difference and don't run away. I've proven myself, I don't have to prove it to you or anyone else, as I see it your the one on the hotseat, and by the comments you have made here, no matter where you go or what you do you aren't going to change. Your going to sit back and criticize everyone else for being the loser you are. In all honesty it's probably a good thing your leaving, if you really are. Your negative energy brings everyone down that reads this, and we have enough issues to deal with without your help. Good luck to you I really hope you find peace within yourself, so that you don't have to be so negative around others at your new agency.

Well Corporal...I can see you never were a detective at our agency because your investigative skills are horrible. I have a few more years left in me at our agency before I can retire. I challenge you to find anywhere in MY posts that says I am leaving, oh and by the way I am not under investigation and don't forsee getting fired anytime soon. Who knows, if you have been employed at our agency for as long as you claim to be you might retire before me! I was once in your shoes as a Corporal, I was proud of my rank at the time but I am even more proud of my current rank. I am also proud of MY agency Corporal. I am ashamed that we have members such as yourself that feel the need to post their accomplishments on a public website. Have some pride in yourself man! You have a complex about something in your pitiful life to post how great you are, you have a, "look at me tell me how great I am" , personality that degrades the fine men and women of the Ocala Police Department. I for one am sick and tired of you ranting about people who talk unfavorable of our agnecy, I don't agree with their way of thinking but I don't agree with arrogant d*i*p*s*h*%^'s such as your self either. Get a life, do your job to the best of your abilities and treat the citizens of our city with respect and we will once again become a premier agency in the area. If all the newer guys are like yourself and preach to the citizens how great they are I think I can see why we might have lost some credibility in the community. Try being humble Corporal, for someone like you it will be a challenge, but you'll gain a lot more respect from your peers, from what I have been told it's obvious by the way you are treated now that you have no respect at our agency.

I'm so glad to be seeing employees with this fine agency starting to use this board... :-)

your an idiot, i'm not defending my statements to you when you can't even answer the question that was asked. so i patted myself on the back and i'm arrogant, but i'm damn good at what i do. when's the last time you wrote a commendation that went through......? don't like it....don't care!

if more of the new officers were a little more arrogant this department would still be the way it is. besides i wouldn't have to pat myself on the back if thanks yous and commendations were still given out......don't like it i dont care, what have you done for opd lately?

your an idiot, i'm not defending my statements to you when you can't even answer the question that was asked. so i patted myself on the back and i'm arrogant, but i'm darn good at what i do. when's the last time you wrote a commendation that went through......? don't like it....don't care!

if more of the new officers were a little more arrogant this department would still be the way it is. besides i wouldn't have to pat myself on the back if thanks yous and commendations were still given out......don't like it i dont care, what have you done for opd lately?

Thanks for the reply now at least your true thoughts came out, just like I was told it would about you. Look at yourself man, just look at your comments to see how pitiful you really are.

Again I ask what have you done at OPD? Now I ask the question not "Top Dog". Can you answer it or are you that big a loser....oh wait a minute your a shortimer pretending to have experience, putting me down for a typo for misspelling the word career. That's right you have done nothing here, even if it's small you have made no attempt to help things out. You just complain.
Let me ask you this have you been in any fights or foot chases or car chases, been involved in any thing violent, homocide scenes, probably not. Short timer have agreat career, your comments on here make you sound like a total loser, and that it's really about you putting people down who have tried to make a difference, where you have sat on the sideleine and done nothing. If this makes you feel better about yourself then I encourage you to continue this blog going. If not face facts, you feel better about yourself avoiding questions and putting others down for spelling errors, wow who's the super cop now.
There are so many people here who have done so much more than you or I will or have but your a short timer, so what does it matter to you...you just enjoy putting people down and this makes you feel better. Take all the shots on me you want, because better men that you have tried and they failed. Loser!

Again I ask what have you done at OPD? Now I ask the question not "Top Dog". Can you answer it or are you that big a loser....oh wait a minute your a shortimer pretending to have experience, putting me down for a typo for misspelling the word career. That's right you have done nothing here, even if it's small you have made no attempt to help things out. You just complain.
Let me ask you this have you been in any fights or foot chases or car chases, been involved in any thing violent, homocide scenes, probably not. Short timer have agreat career, your comments on here make you sound like a total loser, and that it's really about you putting people down who have tried to make a difference, where you have sat on the sideleine and done nothing. If this makes you feel better about yourself then I encourage you to continue this blog going. If not face facts, you feel better about yourself avoiding questions and putting others down for spelling errors, wow who's the super cop now.
There are so many people here who have done so much more than you or I will or have but your a short timer, so what does it matter to you...you just enjoy putting people down and this makes you feel better. Take all the shots on me you want, because better men that you have tried and they failed. Loser!

I'll leave it at this Corporal, I don't give a ratz azz how long you think I have been here and you can speculate on my retirement date all you want. My ONE AND ONLY POINT about you was that you want some type of glory and recognition for getting a change on the computer website and I don't want officers like that working for me. I don't want glory hounds who think they are great cops because they make an ADMIN change on a website. I want street cops who run the road like street cops, now I CHALLENGE you to when you last had a PROACTIVE FELONY arrest or a footchase. I back my proactive troops 100% in everything they do, now go take another service call and think about the next really big admin change you can make so you can post it here for all to see but you'll NEVER get any glory from me for an admin change and son, I have never taken a "shot" at you I just stated facts about you whether you like it or not so theres your FACTS you want so bad.

You two have destroyed what this topic was about. Go to a private chat.

Morale is low. I don't think it would take a lot to fix it.

First thing is use the lists as the lists. Don't go and pick the #7 guy on the list, when the #1 person is much better qualified. Why would you promote someone that has only been on the road 5 years, 2 of which were on the road and 3 in a specialized unit. That person does not have enough experience on the job.

Second thing, teamwork needs to be worked on. On any given squad you have a select few people that work the calls. The others only want to b*tch and complain. When if actually everyone pitched in, we could work the road with 15 people. Spending 3 hours on a S54 is ridiculous, especially when you typed the CAD in 2 hours and 45 minutes ago.

Third thing, on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, provide lunch for dayshift and dinner for midnights. If you look at large companies like Home Depot, Target, Lowes, they reward their employees. Once a month if they meet sales or get high marks, they provide them with a lunch. I am sure the H.R. people at those stores would not have a problem giving ideas.

Fourth, be more fair with discipline. We have an order of discipline to be followed. But if it is a certain officer, anything that person does can be considered a serious violation and admin is allowed to give any punishment they want even if the officer hasn't had any prior discipline. That is ridiculous. Not everything needs to go to an I.A. or Inquiry either. Supervisors should be able to handle the initial complaint. IF they feel at that point it needs a true investigation, then they can recommend it to the D.C.

The department is not as bad as it could be. It is just sad that none of us work together anymore. I remember 10 years ago, squads were families and went out and made arrests, traffic stops. That was before it was required. It is almost like people are rebelling. But the thing I hear the most is that the department doesn't want patrol making narcotics arrests. That is not the focus. The department is just about the approval rating and don't want to do anything to hurt that. They don't want us in 2nd Chance Park.

Last thing, maybe we need a big meeting again. One where we can all voice our opinions. It doesn't seem like some ideas given to the FOP are making it to admin because the powers in the FOP don't like the ideas, but love the drama.

First of all I totally agree with everything you said, but our department is not going to run itself like a big company, but if it did just the recognition to the officers that they are appreciated would go a long way. We don't even get a piece of paper for a good job anymore, and if they do come down, they are very few and far inbetween, but your comments I totally agree with.

Second, the FOP does what the few involved in it want or even a few chosen members. I presented an item to them for negotiations and it was never reviewed or brought up, so it makes it difficult to supports them in other things at times.

Third, I said what I did in an attempt to answer the initial question. Then this other knucklehead started cutting me down for a typo, and he made it another issue. He's/She's probably a crappy person to work for so I should expect the comments that I did. I have put in my time here and chased people on foot and cars and made cases, blah blah blah blah. He/She still has not answered the question and at this point I don't care if they do or don't. If you would like to respond and have the last word because that will make you feel better go ahead , but I agree it's time to move on it's obvious that you are not going to answer the origianl question so be it.

I totally agree that there are many things that could be done to improve morale here, the first would be seeing that FSS 112 is not violated so much and that when asked why it is the response isn't "because that's the way we do things"! Not good! For what it's worth I think that the last comments written were really good and hope that someone upstairs listens...okay reads them. With our top two I don't think this will matter but maybe someday it will change. The small things go a long way, but the attitude upstairs stays the same. Maybe it's time that the downstairs people are not the only ones thinking outside the box!