Stolen Cars

[ItOnlySmokesALittle]

How hard do you guys look for stolen cars? Do you just happen upon them? Do you run tags randomly while your out and about during your shifts? This is a huge problem in other cities like Tampa and Orlando, and i know there isnt much you guys can do to prevent it, but after its happened do you guys get a notice or something or a printout of cars stolen in the area?

Friend,

With a 1.5% pay raise and a 1.5% increase in our retirement contribution (pay raise goes to pay the increase) we will be spending less time looking for stolen cars. If your car gets stolen I hope it is somewhere else other than Pinellas Park.

True don't be active, you may get canned!!!!!!!!

Oh, please explain that one....

How we gonna catch a stolen car? Super magical powers............. If you flee and go over 45, news flash we can't chase!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ItOnlySmokesALittle]

Thanks for the answers... I asked a legitimate question and I guess I got the real truth. Is there anything you guys do that requires you to actually care? It seems like some of you guys have simply given up. And this is not a stab at you or your department, but it seems from the answers I see given on this site, you guys dont actively do anything. Do you guys only want to cut tickets and go home? Has the department crushed your guys spirit that much? Now keep in mind, these questions are asked from some one who has no idea as to the inner workings of a police department. However I will say, I met one great Pinellas Park officer who was working the road block in front of the sunoco on 19, next to DriveTime. If any one knows him, tell him I hope his daughter finds a set of wheels for her ford focus, and it was great talking to you.

Yes, after years and years of .5% and 1.5% and 0.0% raises making us THE LOWEST PAID POLICE DEPARTMENT IN PINELLAS COUNTY, the City has "crushed our spirits" along with our pocketbook along with any desire to give 1/2 a $shit. Sorry, friend, but you're right. You don't know the inner workings and that is not our fault. We wish the people did know how we were treated by the City of Pinellas Park. It is no secret that the mayor does not like us and wants to replace us with PCSO. Why, when the PD kisses ever liver spot on his old wrinkled white ass the minute he calls, I don't know? It is no secret that in this little place they key to success is to just do your 10 and go home. We hire, promote and reward marginal performance. We have a sergeant, the city's "Employee of the Year", who's working on the biggest "caper" of his career. He has enlisted his entire special operations squad (just over a handful of people) along with agencies across the bay area (who are still laughing at us I am sure) to try and catch a teenager spray painting graffiti. You can rest assured that while your precious little Scion or Subaru is being stolen, there will be a "task force" staking out the kid so that he can be taken down HARD and spend the entire episode of "The Hills" in J.A.C. Just keep your insurance up to date and do us a favor by not leaving any guns in your car. Sorry you did not get the gung-ho answered you wanted. It hurts me more than it hurts you, and that is no joke!

I apologize for some of my malcontent coworkers. While many of the things they say are true, the reality is that only a handful of officers post comments on this site because it typically is full of people who do nothing but complain but have few usable suggestions for improvement. We are a good agency with mostly sharp officers however even good officers can have the morale sucked away from them by low pay and a city administration that sometimes doesn't seem to care. That being said, we have many council members who do care about the agency and morale, we only wish they would step up and be a little more aggressive. As for the mayor, it is difficult to have watched the relationship with the mayor deteriorate over the years. Really, those of us who have been around for awhile don't know why and I agree he appears a little too cozy with the sheriff for our blood.

To answer your question, we have so many stolen autos in Pinellas County, and with the call volume of our agency vs the amount of officers we employee, it is very difficult to devote a large amount of time to solving one auto theft case. In reality, a stolen auto gets broadcast to all units in case an officer happens to come across a vehicle matching that description. Most officers will write the vehicle description down but after a few days, it is so far down on the list it would be hard to recall the information. Most of our stolen vehicles are recovered in St. Petersburg or other cities so most of us know the reality of finding stolen autos is that they are often not going to be located by us unless we find them in the first few minutes after being stolen. Most of the officers run tags throughout our shift and sometimes find a stolen car in transit, often from other cities or the county. However, like previously posted, if the car flees from the attempt to stop it, we are not authorized to pursue the vehicle and simply write a report about what happened. For officers that is frustrating but done so due to the administrative position that a property crime is not worth risking the life of the general public who can be harmed during a high speed pursuit. That being said, we do have a detective who is dedicated to auto theft. It is his responsibility to work with other agencies to identify patterns and track down evidence to attempt to apprehend suspects after the car has been dumped or otherwise located.

I hope this answers your question in the manner you expected. Please just chalk the rest of the conversation up to police officers who feel unappreciated by the public and the managers for whom they work.

The truth is that we have an auto theft detective assigned to these cases and as for our methodology...that is confidential information privy to law enforcement only. We don't want to broadcast our tactics and methods and the previous poster was actually negligent in his his duty to do so because we can't be sure who we are responding to on here.

Does any genius want to discuss how we conduct narcotics investigations to anonymous subjects on a web board?

The bottom line is: We investigate everything to the best of our ability.

[ItOnlySmokesALittle]

Thank you for the replies guys. It was just a question I was interested in finding info about because im a car guy. And within the car community its a common problem, was just wondering if anything was actually done about it. I will always remember to keep the fact that you guys have a hard job, and with no backing from your higher ups, it makes you feel disheartened. Just try to remember when your out there, not all citizens hate the police, some of us understand your guys situation. Have a good day, and be safe out there! I hope I can look forward to some responses from you guys in the future on questions I have.

thanks,

-Citizen in P Park!

Yes, after years and years of .5% and 1.5% and 0.0% raises making us THE LOWEST PAID POLICE DEPARTMENT IN PINELLAS COUNTY, the City has "crushed our spirits" along with our pocketbook along with any desire to give 1/2 a $shizzat. Sorry, friend, but you're right. You don't know the inner workings and that is not our fault. We wish the people did know how we were treated by the City of Pinellas Park. It is no secret that the mayor does not like us and wants to replace us with PCSO. Why, when the PD kisses ever liver spot on his old wrinkled white ass the minute he calls, I don't know? It is no secret that in this little place they key to success is to just do your 10 and go home. We hire, promote and reward marginal performance. We have a sergeant, the city's "Employee of the Year", who's working on the biggest "caper" of his career. He has enlisted his entire special operations squad (just over a handful of people) along with agencies across the bay area (who are still laughing at us I am sure) to try and catch a teenager spray painting graffiti. You can rest assured that while your precious little Scion or Subaru is being stolen, there will be a "task force" staking out the kid so that he can be taken down HARD and spend the entire episode of "The Hills" in J.A.C. Just keep your insurance up to date and do us a favor by not leaving any guns in your car. Sorry you did not get the gung-ho answered you wanted. It hurts me more than it hurts you, and that is no joke!



Please don't discuss present investigations.