2008 What a Great Year....

Well here we are again, the end of another year. Although we all have had a rough year: staff reductions, no parking, budget crunching, musical supervisors, increases in medical insurance, and looking down the barrel of a wonderful year to renegotigate our contract. As an Agency we have accomplished numerous feats of which we should be proud, proud for our friends and proud of ourselves. We have had effected more arrests with "fewer feet on the street", resulting in thousands of man hours behind bars. We have solved almost every homicide that has occurred in the City this year, hundreds upon hundreds of felony arrests, and even a few spitting on the sidewalk arrests. The Chief and City Manager can say that "crime is down" all they want, we know the truth, bad guys multiply like rabbits and we are in a hiring freeze. We are it, no one else is coming anytime soon. The real reason that the City of Sarasota Police Department is a great place to work is that everybody at SPD goes out and hits it everyday, some harder than others, granted, but everybody is there stepping up to the plate to take a swing at the ball when it matters. We have issues, God knows, do we have issues....I'm just saying THANKS from one Cop to another, you guys/gals do a great job, and for what it's worth I'm proud to be a Police Officer in the City of Sarasota.

Have a Great Holiday Season and stay safe, the New Year starts in less than 3 weeks.....Here we go again!

Like your comments there buddy. You sound like one of us good guys. I believe that our department could run very well with some of the Sgt's and officers in charge. Leave the real police work to the real police offcers.
I'm sorry to say however, that things here will be getting worse before they get better.
If you believe the COP or the City Manager that there will be no more cuts for the next 18-months.........I have a bridge to sell you......more cuts WILL be coming. There is no way around it. I just got my tax bill (i live in the city) it's several hundreds dollars less then last year. How in the hell is the city going to survive with all this less tax money. THEY CAN'T.
So, here's the predictions from those in the know.
1. Hiring freeze continues.
2. More jobs cut or go unfilled as people retire (including civilians). This means more work and no extra money), less productivity. (more retirements with no more people hired on)
3.Laundry services eliminated.
4. Charges for extra uniforms.
5. more work, more pressure from up top to keep the numbers up, even with less help and increasing crime.
6. increasing talk about consolidations of services with the county.
7. as new building gets closer to completion the consolidation talk will increase. The county wants and needs the SSO building & space. Our new bulding will be their answer.
8. less new cars & equipment.....we will keep using the old stuff until is falls apart.
9. even less approvals for training trips.

there's a whole lot more, but you get the picture. The future is NOT looking good. But at least we have our pride and we will continue to move on, doing our jobs without any recognition.......( I guess there will be no awards ceremony this year) Maybe we can hire back the old PIO just to do that. No one else knows how to do it anyway or cares.......at least he did.

And finally, in the spirit of Christmas (yes, some of us still say it) we should look around us..there are many, many of our own that are hurting and in need. We have a department employees assistance fund (that know one ever uses)...why don't we seek out those in need, show them we care about them, and make their Holiday bearable. There are several that are hurting big time, not for anything that they did, but because of the economy. Also, some of our most loyal civilian employees as well. Those still here and those gone due to budgt funny stuff.

I hope everyone of my brothers and sisters here have a blessed and safe holiday.