Originally Posted by
Unregistered
When it comes to quotas, somehow our local media seems to lack the curious nature to examine whether your claims are valid or not. Of course, when a doltish FHP command officer put it on paper, demanding citations, the media jumped on it and he eventually he "retired."
To change this obsolete and potentially dangerous model, as it can be a trigger for unnecessary use of force situations, it will require leadership. That can only be brought in by a new police chief who views policing from a different prism than most, if not all, current internal aspirants and even external ones. Policing is about serving and protecting, handling calls for service promptly, diligently and effectively. When not conducting calls for service generated, preliminary investigations, officers should engage in preventive patrol at locations identified as vulnerable through CompStat or the officers' personal knowledge based on experience and training. Investigative stops must be made pursuant to the parameters established by Terry v Ohio and Florida's Stop and Frisk Law, FSS 901.151 and that is, Reasonable Suspicion that a crime was committed, is being committed or is about to be committed. Not to satisfy a sergeant's demands for "stats!" Arrests and citations are tools of the vocation; not metrics for evaluating officers' effectiveness based on "productivity."
For your sake, we hope Francis Xavier Suarez sees through the facade many will put on and will direct his city manager to appoint a police chief who will depart from the numbers or statistics model and embrace the service and protection paradigm. Though sadly we hear that Francis, over the years as city commissioner, has not been a supporter of Police and Fire. We hope that is wrong, for public safety IS government's first priority.