*PLEASE READ*

strange reaction..

strange reaction..

Really. Do you have any idea what L.E. traffic deaths costs both in terms of funds as well as the human toll ? We should applaud the Dept. for taking positive steps to control an obvious problem. You can't have officers running 100 mph to b.s. calls in busy traffic areas.

Personally after reading this memo sent out by Colonel Rick Ramsay to all of the Monroe County Sheriff staff, i see a few flaws. First of all i see that he is wanting the Supervisors to be the person who judges whether or not a call requires more than two officers and also the code that should be run to certain calls. We can not forget that in the case of Deputy Melissa Powers she was going to back up her supervisor, who was supposedly on another channel. So let me ask you a question, What happens if someone is drowning or some other call that may need to be run on a Code 3, and it just so happens that the supervisor is on another channel. This could cause loss of citizens lives. We can not depend on the supervisors. People may trash talk and say that Deputy Melissa Powers shouldn't have been driving at the speed that she was driving, but we must remember that she was under the impression that her "supervisor" was getting his a** beat or he was in trouble. The second this i see is that now after loosing another Deputy, Rick Ramsay decides to implement new air-cards and a updated car cam system. The question in mind is why wasn't all this implemented in 2007 when the other deputy was lost in the same type of accident. It seems to me that Monroe County is scared sh**less and are trying to fix all the problems before hell strikes there department.

RIP Sister Deputy Melissa Powers, your family is in our prayers. :cop:

So let me ask you a question, What happens if someone is drowning or some other call that may need to be run on a Code 3, and it just so happens that the supervisor is on another channel.

Read the memo again, all supervisors are responsible. If your supervisor is on channel two and you cannot switch over or dispatch doesn't ask them on channel two, look at CAD and determine the ID # for another supervisor and ask them. Come on this isn't rocket science, we are just getting back to the days of NO Response speeds over 25 mph above the speed limit. As the memo says GET THERE and solve the problem, the alternative only makes it worse.

Re: Question #2 , In IMHO this memo is long overdue.

Serving Monroe County since 1983.

strange reaction..

Really. Do you have any idea what L.E. traffic deaths costs both in terms of funds as well as the human toll ? We should applaud the Dept. for taking positive steps to control an obvious problem. You can't have officers running 100 mph to b.s. calls in busy traffic areas.

Yes I do...more than you will ever know.... you can take someone's life and/or liberty without permission, but you have to ask to turn on lights and sirens? I understand the motivation, but question the process.

at the end of the day she died thinking in her mind that another officer was in trouble. it could have been a heart attack, ambush, etc. believe me she was very much in love with her baby girl , but she did not think twice about doing what we police officers are suppose to do for each other. she did what any other officer would have done and that is listen to your radio and back each other up, because at the end of the day, no body else will come, we only have each other. i hurts and causes anger to read all the blogs of the citizens we take an oath to protect and serve who monday quarter back and talk crap about how stupid she was and that she caused her own destiny by driving so fast. but that is evil tring to control our minds. we all know she died being a hero and not a zero like they think. god have mercy on their souls.

at the end of the day she died thinking in her mind that another officer was in trouble. it could have been a heart attack, ambush, etc. believe me she was very much in love with her baby girl , but she did not think twice about doing what we police officers are suppose to do for each other. she did what any other officer would have done and that is listen to your radio and back each other up, because at the end of the day, no body else will come, we only have each other. i hurts and causes anger to read all the blogs of the citizens we take an oath to protect and serve who monday quarter back and talk crap about how stupid she was and that she caused her own destiny by driving so fast. but that is evil tring to control our minds. we all know she died being a hero and not a zero like they think. god have mercy on their souls.

Amen

Lets make this the last post on this subject and let her rest in peace.

strange reaction..

Really. Do you have any idea what L.E. traffic deaths costs both in terms of funds as well as the human toll ? We should applaud the Dept. for taking positive steps to control an obvious problem. You can't have officers running 100 mph to b.s. calls in busy traffic areas.

Yes I do...more than you will ever know.... you can take someone's life and/or liberty without permission, but you have to ask to turn on lights and sirens? I understand the motivation, but question the process.

Considering how MCSO officers drive and act I think it is perfectly understandable. Ya throw peanuts- ya get monkeys !!

From: Rick Ramsay
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 2:02 PM
Subject: Safety of our officers requires changes in our operational response

Safety of our officers requires changes in our operational response

By Colonel Rick Ramsay



Due to the recent death of Deputy Melissa Powers, and due to a string of deaths in our agency due to traffic accidents, we have examined our current practices, and are directing that some changes take place in the way road patrol operates when responding to calls.



Since I began working here, we have had five Deputies killed in the line of duty. ALL of them were killed in Traffic Crashes. Three of the five accidents occurred when the officers were responding to a call and traveling at or near 100mph. In all three cases, this high speed response was completely un-called for. I do not say this lightly, or to be disrespectful to these fine officers, but this should be a wakeup call to everyone when it comes to how we respond to calls for service.



In 1998, Res. Deputy Dave Cormier was a passenger in a patrol vehicle when the unit he was riding in responded to a report of a stolen bicycle. The patrol car was traveling at an extremely high rate of speed when it collided with another vehicle, killing Deputy Cormier. In 2007, Deputy Robin Tanner was responding to an unattended death call at an extremely high rate of speed. Robin swerved to avoid a vehicle in front of her, lost control of her vehicle and she was killed in the resulting accident. Deputy Melissa Powers was driving at an extremely high rate of speed to help locate her Sergeant, who was out of touch on his radio. Melissa swerved to avoid a vehicle in front of her and she was killed in the resulting accident. At these high rates of speed, if even a small thing goes wrong, there is simply no time to react. Even an expert driver would not be able to handle a collision at such high speeds.



Across the nation officers are being killed, injured, and are killing and injuring others because they are driving too fast. In many instances, they are speeding to calls which do not require such a response. We talk about officer safety all of the time when it comes to armed suspects and other dangerous situations, but it is clear to me that the number one threat to a law enforcement officer is unsafe driving – particularly here in Monroe County.



We all know the officers who drive too fast and we all say to ourselves or each other, “someday something is going to happen.” Well, it is time for us to tackle this problem head-on. On the day after Deputy Powers funeral, a meeting was held at headquarters with all Commanders and Chiefs in attendance. I outlined what I see as the problems we are having, and what I want to see happen to help solve those problems. My number one concern is the safety and security of our officers, followed closely by the safety and security of the public. I am going to make every effort to see that everyone goes home at the end of their shift if I can possibly help it.



The responsibility for making sure this effort is successful and is consistently applied will be on our supervisors – primarily on our Road Patrol Sergeants. The main responsibility of a road patrol sergeant is and always has been to monitor and control his or her road patrol shift; there are some sergeants who do this very well. There are others who have not been adequately supervising and it is now time for them to step up to the plate and do their job.



From now on, I want to make it clear: it is a sergeant’s responsibility to direct the type of response a call requires. Before a deputy runs code to a call, that response must be approved by a sergeant. There are very few times such a response is called for, and even fewer where a high speed code response is required. This will ensure the sergeant knows what’s going on which is important because he or she may be called upon to justify the response.



The goal here is to limit code responses to calls. For example, there is absolutely no reason to run code to dumpster fires, brush fires , fire alarms, verbal disputes of any kind, trespassing, crashes (unless there are injuries), repetitive alarm calls, or most medical calls.



And remember, when you are responding to a routine call – and not running code – you must be driving at the speed limit. There is absolutely no reason to exceed the speed limit on a routine call. I get more complaints from the public about deputies speeding than about anything else. In addition to the deadly crashes I talked about, we have also had many vehicles badly damaged or destroyed due to high speed driving. This unsafe behavior is going to stop. If it doesn’t, someone will be held responsible for it.



Also, from now on, no more than two units will respond to any call, unless a sergeant authorizes more than two units. If a sergeant authorizes more than two units to respond to a call, he or she will specify what level of response and must be able to justify it based on the circumstances of the call. There is simply no reason to have more than two units going to most of our calls.



Remember, your safety outweighs everything else! We may see an overall slower response time as a result of these safety efforts. We may see some calls escalate because it took us a little longer to get there. But we have to get there in one piece to do any good.



We will be doing a better job of tracking our officers. Making sure we know an officer’s location is a major safety issue. Data Processing has ordered new air cards that will also act as GPS antennas. This ensures they will not be accidentally or purposefully disconnected. These new cards will also allow us to monitor vehicle speeds and locations.



I have also directed data processing to change the configuration of our in-car video systems to automatically activate at 65 mph. I am telling you this up front – consider this fair warning. We aren’t trying to trick anyone here, but we are going to make sure we do everything we can to keep our officers safe.



I’ve made this clear to Commanders, and now I’m making it clear here for everyone. Road Patrol Sergeants have now been given clear direction. They will be held accountable for this. And, if a particular sergeant doesn’t take appropriate action when directing officers to a call, I expect other sergeants on duty to step in. Road patrol officers, let me be clear: if you receive direction from any sergeant, even if it isn’t your shift sergeant, you are to follow that direction.



Some of you may feel this sounds harsh. But we are going to learn from the past and make every effort to avoid these deadly situations in the future. I look forward to any other thoughts or suggestions on how we can tackle these serious safety issues.



Colonel Rick Ramsay

All cops are assholes... :evil: