PCSO is Coming

[Locutus of the Borg]

Metro is inevitable.

LOL!!! That's pretty good!

go back to your own board...

Actually, PCSO is shrinking....both in geographical area and in image. And, under current leadership, the PCSO appeal has lost its luster. Tax reform is no friend to the bottomless pit of PCSO.

Actually, PCSO is shrinking....both in geographical area and in image. And, under current leadership, the PCSO appeal has lost its luster. Tax reform is no friend to the bottomless pit of PCSO.

Not to mention all of the problems they are having with their contract negotiations and the FOP. I wonder if they will ever get their 3%? And when they do, it still won't be retroactive...

I don't envy the deputies, but I sure wish them the best!

Eventually the check writers (commission and the tax payer) will figure out that they are wasting millions of tax payer dollars each year funding a police department that offers redundant and, arguably, inferior services. Name a service that lpd provides that pcso does not. List the services that lpd does better than pcso. What? None?

Why are tax payers being charged for an additional chief and deputy chief, captains, lieutenants, sergeants, civilian managers, etc? They are an unnecessary layer to fund. All of the employees that qualify could find employment, including the members mentioned above. Eventually your members will be able to compete for the many investigator positions, sro positions, large traffic and dui units, as well as community policing assignments, which now number over thirty. How about the crime prevention and sexual predator units? There are the many court security positions, such as bailiff and pre-trial services sections. Don't forget the fugitive and civil sections of the court processing division. Did I mention the marine and environmental lands units, k-9, swat?
The Sheriff contracts for service with twelve cities and the airport. If you get bored or burned out in north county, bid for south or a contract city. One day, you might even be assigned to the city of largo. Regularly, there are requests for memos for transfer to all of the assignments listed
above. What's not to like? I guess if you've been at lpd for a while, the pension is a consideration. If you haven't been there more than a couple years, it's very attractive. The Sheriff pays your pension contribution. What? You hear people grumbling about the contract and other issues? I dare say there are grumblings at lpd about issues as well. Anyway, commissioners, tax payers, employees of lpd, reread the post. It's all true.

1.) We have a charter police department which means it will require a vote from the citizens to get rid of the PD. Thank, God. Our citizens like and care about their PD. We thank you for your support.

2.) PCSO will tell you to stuff parking lot crashes, barking dogs and other low priority, nuisance calls where the sun does not shine. LPD responds to all of these calls for service and many more. This PD provides excellent service to our tax payers. The City of Largo has somehow managed to afford their PD and maintain one of the lowest tax bases in the county. Hmmmm. Must be magic.

3.) Ask Dunedin how they feel about giving up their PD. In off-the-record remarks, many city officials have expressed a deep and sincere regret regarding the loss of control and service they accepted when they closed their department down. In the past, it has been whispered that if it weren't for the start up cost to recreate the department, they would go back.

4.) The PCSO monetary shell-game (which has nothing to do with the hardworking deputies on the road) is a line of bull designed to sell their contracts. They lowball the first year and then demand astronomical increases each year after that until they get to the point where they can afford to do business.

5.) If all of the "extra" employees we keep on board are just going to be transferred to PCSO's employment, well, aren't the citizens of Largo going to still be paying their salary? Yes, they will. The extra staffing PCSO would have to hire (including civilian positions, command positions, etc.) in order to service our city would be funded by the citizens of Largo. You're lieing to people if you imply that they will no longer have to fund all of these positions just because PCSO comes in and takes over. Staffing is based on population. So you will have to hire X-number of deputies to police the population of Largo. Then you will require Y-number of sgts to manage those deputies, along with Z-number of Lt's to manage the sgts, etc, etc, etc, etc. The city will STILL be writing the check, they will just be writing it to the county instead of their own police department. And by the way, we happen to have one of the lowest officer-to-civilian ratios in the county. If PCSO comes in, they are going to DEMAND more deputies to service the city. So you will be paying more cops to do the job than you are now. Where's the savings? You're also going to buy a take home cruiser for each of the new deputies along with all of the equipment they require to do their job. The savings is all smoke and mirrors. It doesn't really exist. PCSO barely has enough deputies to cover the areas they are currently responsible for. It would require a massive hiring and training effort (both of which are VERY expensive) to get up to the staffing levels they need to serve our City.


This is not a knock on my brothers and sisters in green. You guys do an outstanding job and you have a solid, well-respected organization. We just do things differently and I think overall the citizens of Largo are pleased with our service.

Bottom line........local control. Largo taxpayers want to say what the priorities are. The Sheriff has demonstrated that he answeres to no one.....he is a constitution officer....therefore he gets to set his own priorities, spend his money, go into the red, etc. as he sees fit. Deputies are good folks (for the most part), but local control is the issue. PCSO customer service sucks in general.

Please review the PCSO page for a glimpse into the perfect agency....NOT!

Bottom line........local control.

Amen. The citizens pay a lot of money for law enforcement and should have a say in how things are done. PCSO will not be nearly as responsive to their needs as their own police department is.

Spoken like folks who have only worked at lpd. When a city contracts for service they get what they want, as long as it is legal and ethical. No matter where you work, there are employees that have poor attitudes about code enforcement, barking dogs, domestics, crashes, etc. Look around, there's probably one or two on your shift. They don't speak for the agency, but they must be suffered until they leave or step on their reproducer and are sent packing. Check with some of the cities. They get what they want.