Some Honest Info about SPPD

I have submitted an app to SPPD. I am a bit uneasy about working with them because I hear a lot of negative about them, but I don't know any specifics. Will some of you explain some of the specific negatives and positives about the SPPD? Thanks for helping me with my decision.

[Terry Tate]

SPPD is a well paying agency that is seriously understaffed and overmanaged. There are some very prejudicial black officers here that go as high as the Assistant Chief. They, along with Golitah Davis, have beaten this agency and its fine officers down to the point of just doing what needs to get down without malfiesence. The busier areas of the city are a great training ground for dealing with violent crime and in progress calls. Those areas are also infested with criminal terrorist organizations and anti-government and anti-police citizens, business owners, and politically connected criminals. There are in fact areas of St. Petersburg that are off limits to Vice & Narcotics. There are in fact drug dealers who are off limits as well. SPPD's IA is proactive and aggresive in investigating most of its officers. This same aggression does not apply to a select few in the black power hub. You cannot trust your all of your sector partners to back you up in a complaint. You cannot trust your supervisors to do the same either. You can anticipate having numerous IA investigations against you within a few years if you do your job correctly. You can expect to be suspended some where during that time for doing your job as well. So, unless you are a minority who plans to climb the ranks by sucking on the power teets of the current Al-Quada like regime, go to Tampa PD or any large local agency for a nice long career free of the arcane spanish inquisition tactics of the St. Uruhusburg Police Department.

Have a nice day.

But if you're not certified it's a pretty good place to get training and experience before you ship out

SPPD is a well paying agency that is seriously understaffed and overmanaged. There are some very prejudicial black officers here that go as high as the Assistant Chief. They, along with Golitah Davis, have beaten this agency and its fine officers down to the point of just doing what needs to get down without malfiesence. The busier areas of the city are a great training ground for dealing with violent crime and in progress calls. Those areas are also infested with criminal terrorist organizations and anti-government and anti-police citizens, business owners, and politically connected criminals. There are in fact areas of St. Petersburg that are off limits to Vice & Narcotics. There are in fact drug dealers who are off limits as well. SPPD's IA is proactive and aggresive in investigating most of its officers. This same aggression does not apply to a select few in the black power hub. You cannot trust your all of your sector partners to back you up in a complaint. You cannot trust your supervisors to do the same either. You can anticipate having numerous IA investigations against you within a few years if you do your job correctly. You can expect to be suspended some where during that time for doing your job as well. So, unless you are a minority who plans to climb the ranks by sucking on the power teets of the current Al-Quada like regime, go to Tampa PD or any large local agency for a nice long career free of the arcane spanish inquisition tactics of the St. Uruhusburg Police Department.

Have a nice day.

This place is fine. You do your job, document your actions and complete the necessary forms when you make an arrest and/or use force and police within the general orders of the agency and you won't have a problem....most of the clowns on this site are simply whiners and lazy do nothings that choose to hide behind a few restrictive policies as the reason they don't do anything proactive.

Thanks for adding your input. Anyone please feel free to add to this, I will check it regularly. However this leads to another question for those that say SPPD is good to work for. (which I dunno if it is or not, I just want to determine the truth) Do you deny some of the allegations of the brass not supporting their ground troops? To me that is huge. Thanks again for the help. :0)

It's the whiners that feel they are not supported by brass. They feel the ends justify the means. They feel they shouldn't get in trouble for making an arrest even if they had to violate general orders or the bad guy's constitutional rights. I have worked the worst part of the city for more than 20 years, make arrest and guess what - never been suspended. The majority of the guys griping are the ones that can't stay within general orders to do their job. The IA shot was probably spilt milk also. They just gather the facts of a case. Their investigations clear you if you follow procedure.

Thanks for the post Luke Chan... I mean unknown street level officer that has worked the "meanest" part of the city for 20 years. (coff BS coff) The above post is bs made either by a member of the brass or one of the protected few that have driven this department into the toilet. Either way nobody cares, it's all lies. You want the facts, just look at the amount of officers that leave here every year to go work for other departments. It's on the FDLE website and no amout of propaganda from anyone on this website is going to change that. I think in the last 5 years there have been almost 400 officers leave and in a department of 500 that's just hard to lie away no matter what Mr."No Truth" has to say. You could also ask about SPPD on the Tampa PD board, and the Pinellas S.O. board. Each of those departments has dozens and dozens of former SPPD officers that can tell you thier horror stories.

"This place is fine. You do your job, document your actions and complete the necessary forms when you make an arrest and/or use force and police within the general orders of the agency and you won't have a problem....most of the clowns on this site are simply whiners and lazy do nothings that choose to hide behind a few restrictive policies as the reason they don't do anything proactive."

Q. What condition produces a statement like the above?

A. Myopia

This is directed to those individuals that say “just do your job” and “document your actions on the necessary form” and things will be ok. My guess would be that you are not the most aggressive officer out there. You are probably one of those who do just enough to get by. Because we all know that no matter how good you are, how right your are, how well you document what happened, if they look hard enough or long enough they will find a mistake. And if you are in the cross hairs, watch out. The point that was being made is if they decide they want you, nothing will stop them from getting you. No matter what. So if you want to roll the dice and sign up for that, come on in. If that is not how you want to live the rest of your career, then go elsewhere.

Now before you tell me to look for a new job, remember there are those that are trapped, those that are not willing to take the risk of starting over, and those that are just waiting for it to get better. Similar I would say to a battered wife. They know their life will be better if they leave, but it is not that easy to do.

Drink the sppd kool aid. Sounds like some of you have. Another example how they have turned this dept. into "meaningless" Go some where else if you want to be a real cop. Sppd is a joke. All you have to do is look at the chief and take a look into his illustrious background. Chucky that is, not the real chief Go-Go, oh well take a look at his too :roll: