Here is what it's going to take...........

you act like these are new problems. These things have been steadily getting worse under his watch. If he is listening now, its because it benifits him in someway, cause these things have been problems for awhile.

Think, if he can go a whole year under staffed (remember..the command is not effected by manpower issues..they go home the same everynight) his budget looks great.

A great concern right now is officer safety, we all remember a couple of weeks ago when there was a gang related stabbing at Otis Andrews, the officers on scene were in a foot chase with the bad guy.....they call for backup, and the response from dispatch was: No backup units available! Thats just great, chasing an armed suspect in the woods, in the dark, and no backup........obviously nobody cares, Chief, city commission, or anybody else. Thats why I emphasize: WATCH OUT FOR EACH OTHER, nobody else will.
At least he got rid of Lt. Jerkoff, that will take the pressure off of that squad, and they can get back to being proactive, gogetters.
Remember though, 121 is full of BS, and he and the commission will do whatever benefits them.
Keep the faith, it will happen, at the right time

While it is beneficial in many ways to have this dialog, it is useless unless the officers of this department decide to grow a pair and take action.

Thats the beauty of this dialog..we have come to realize that we all feel the same. Things will not change until we submit the blue cards, but, lets get what we can first.
We have nothing to lose, if the promises do not come through, we can go to a different agency, TPD is hiring experienced officers like crazy.
The Chief has finally realized that if he does not put out, people will go elsewhere. We are operating at about 75% of the minimum workforce, and someone is going to get hurt.
We are in a good position right now, I have been here for several years, and this is the first time I have seen such unity among the officers, and the majority of officers finally outnumber the the ones that are brainwashed into believing the BS that 121 says, we all know that his statements are merely smoke and mirrors, and we all know the handful of people that actually buy his BS, so stay clear of those backstabbers!

I agree with many of the sentiments expressed here. We need a union to obtain the pay and benefits we deserve.

First, a dose of reality. Chief has realized for many years we do not have enough officers and the pay and benefits are not enough to attract and retain quality officers.
This doesn't bother him. The basic workings of the department continue to function. It doesn't matter if a 5-10 year officer leaves to be replaced with an officer wearing a year pin stating "serving since 0800 hrs". The officer's individual ability to function on his own and write reports impacts the Chief in 0 ways.
Chief's pay and benefits are not decided the same way ours is. He is not limited to the same percentage. Some factors which can impact the amount of raise he receives each year would be financial, how much he saves the city. By bargaining for small raises, low benefits, and not hiring officers to fill available spots saves the city money.
Given this, do you really think he is acting in your best interest if he doesn't have to?

I too have come to the conclusion that we need a union. I have been here a while and have hoped that our pay, benefits, etc; would improve but they haven't. A lot of people are now voicing their opinion that they want it, but who is going to start it??? That is the question. Everyone has the fear of "What if the Chief finds out that I am the one who started all of this?" We can't very well expect someone else to do something that we ourselves are afraid to do. My suggestion is that everybody make a call to PBA and express the interest in starting a union. This way there will be a large number of us showing the Chief, city and whoever else that we are united in this cause and are taking interest and ownership where we work. Also no one person will have to worry about being "blackballed" by the staff. The bottom line is that the city has to do something. They have issued building permits for all these new businesses and homes. Where are the officers to work the city as it grows. Just the new trapnell ridge subdivision alone needs another 4 officers to work it alone. Not to mention the rest of the city that is growing. Our boundaries are supposed to extend to SR 60 possibly and Knights Griffin. We must be planning to have volunteers or something. we definitely dont have the officers to work it know. They just started the townhomes on Alexander and the Maki road ones will be done soon. We can't idley sit by and let the commisioners dictate everything. We are the ones in the trenches putting our lives on the line. They are businessmen, we are cops. Although this is a business, it needs more attention than they are giving it. They don't dare drive down Alabama and pass the right price on fri or sat night. we can't even do nothing about it because we are outnumbered. They don't let their kids go to the PC cinema to get shot at or cussed at by unruly kids. The norte and the surs are shooting each other...how long before its us!!! Because we dont have our gang unit working because they might have to go back to patrol. I walked through the right price in the day time and smelled so much weed, I thought I was in a cheech and chong movie. But they want saturation in walden lake. Guess what...THE BAD GUYS KNOW we are sort handed!! It's not a coincidence we keep getting S69 calls on robert ranch all the time, but don't ever find any loose. Or when S-41's or 21's go out we can't get them because we have to pull units off of calls to set up perimeters or wait 30 minutes for hcso k-9 to get there. I've heard from all the guys who recently left for Tampa and they love it there. I don't that is entirely true. Who wants to leave PC and do way more work!!!! But that money makes it all worth it. The Chief at Tampa knows what good officers PC has because we have to do more because we dont have all those specialty units they do. There will be a lot more leaving too when Han**** and Vega start bragging. Let's get this union thing rolling, because I'm over it. I dont expect to make exactly what tampa makes but there is a whole lot of room to improve.

Well, I guess I have so many comments I'm not really sure where to start. I will start with the majority is right. There needs to be a change here. I believe it needs to starts with some of the leadership roles (step up for what u get paid for). Their attitude is reflected in their officers. If you dont step up then step down!!!!!!

Now, for the comment reference backstabbers? I would guess you are refering to EAB? Huh, well lets see, they are the same officers that are working over on their own time, working several different projects, and still maintaing their work level and even higher than the ones that all they do is complain about work and cry to the citizens about the department's dirty laundry. You might want to step back and see what they are doing for the department before you call them backstabbers. At least they are up front trying to make a difference and not running around talking behind your back!!!

There are alot of things in the past that should be addressed. The question was raised where has the chief been? Same spot he has always been in, his office waiting for the leaders to bring up issues and resolutions that he can have put in place.. Many are right that the chief is the only source of blame since none of the staff has stepped up to help fix the problem(everyone). I see a new line of supervision hopefully coming up in the future. Leadership that can make a difference first line all the way to the top.

Many say the union is the answer to all our sorrows. Also say look what they have done for Tampa. Well, this isn't Tampa, nor do we have the crime or revenue they have. What has the union done for the fire department????? We have a tendency to focus on any example that will support the case they are presenting (Tampa). There are many other negative examples for the union.. Plain and simple they dont have the power that they have up north.

Now, we do need to evolve from the smaller agency mentality... For example S69, S22D and so on these are the things that take away from the go getters so to say... I think some of our go getters need to work on how they articulate why they are go getting and how it came about before they get themsselves unemployeed. There have been several situations where officers and first line supervision alike have been unable to tell the SAO in a paragraph how or what the hell led them to the arrest. Alot of people complain about a certain Lt. I should say cry about it. Maybe a Sgt. should have stepped up. One thing you can count on is that he is the same person everyday.... Its called adapt and overcome people, society has been doing it for years!!!!!

We have to as a group take ownership of this department. For example, how many people in this department have been to a meeting about our pension..... Very few because it is easier to complain and cast blame then it is to make a stand. Once we get the union what do we do? Blame them for the lack of change? Why dont you save your union dues and take care of the problem yourself?!!!

Everyone was/is accountable to someone so make them. There have been decisions made in the past that I do not agree with. I will even go so far as hated! One thing you can say is that a decision was made by the man (chief) the blame was not passed on to someone else. I can never say that i have been a big supporter of the chief's methods to his madness, but as I sit back and watch everyone stumble around waiting for him make a decision it iis somewhat entertaining.

The point I'm trying to make is>>>> stand as a group or continue to ride someone's coattail and complain about the result. Choice B will get us no where as a department, union or not. This job takes enough from you and your family. Alot of the time we are all each other has on the job and off (hours/multiple jobs/street attorney/writer/traffic investigator/ etc), and supposed to leave that all at work to be the greatest (father,boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife) it doesn't always happen and money is one of the major arguments in the household today. You can not always separate the two and people need to learn that.

We are understaffed and out-manned per citizen. The city needs to realize that they are giving the streets back to the criminal. The very streets that these officials let their kids walk on are not being protected in the manner they could be. As they talk about our raise and retirement and look at it as a simple vote (yes or no) what they need to say is "can I carry the weight of that no decision on my shoulders if something was to happen to my own family".....

Moves are being made and I'm sure there are many more to come. Changes don't happen overnight but as you can see they are being made.

I agree with the majority of sentiments from the past couple of posts. Much of the problems we now have, should have been resolved by our leadership a long time ago.
There is very little happening now that wasn't happening years ago. The leadership refused to address the problems because (1) it didn't affect them personally and (2) it required them to make a stand on behalf of someone other than their ownselves.
Neither the leadership of PCPD or the City will take care of us without being forced to. This means using an outside force which in this case is a union. It is true unions are not as strong in Florida as they are up north. It is also true the union for the Fire Dept has not helped them very much. They are a single unit attempting to bargain for pay and benefits. So far, the city has been able to largely ignore them.
The police dept is possibly the largest dept in the city. If the fire and police dept are union, approx half the city employees will be union. It would be very difficult for the city leaders to ignore us.

The Chief is doing a good job support him as he does you. Smile be happy you have a job.

"Backstabbers" was NOT a reference to the present EAB members, they are a good group, doing a good job.