Awaiting the Second Coming or Professional Development

[Average Joe]

Sorry, but until the majority of the workers are willing to stand up and be heard and not afraid of the backlash from the SOC a bargaining unit will never work at HCSO. The Sheriff knows that and thus is not afraid to have Joe flex his muscles.

Sorry, but until the majority of the workers are willing to stand up and be heard and not afraid of the backlash from the SOC a bargaining unit will never work at HCSO. The Sheriff knows that and thus is not afraid to have Joe flex his muscles.

Very true.

Well Mr Gobledegoop, I am not a FH, and if you knew me you would probably agree. I have been at the agency a long time, and have always been very dedicated. I have always had a good reputation and NEVER have I been in trouble..I have given up alot of things over the years for this agency and always done what has been asked of me, and it would be nice to maybe be appreciated just once and thrown a bone. For various reasons I cannot afford to retire, so how could I afford to "make a statement and turn in my stripes". If I could, trust me I would, because most days it is not worth the head ache, and just being a deputy would be alot less stressful, although maybe not, at least I get to eat most nights I look out for my troops, unlike others. I work with a good squad, all are fairly new deputies, and most of them are frustrated by what they see happening. Some are now only waiting to attain graduate degrees and get a little experience and then move on. If we truly want this to be an educated, top notch agency, wouldn't it make more sense to do things to keep people then to chase them away?

Oh wait, realism and common sense doesn't apply here. Am I a little bitter? yes, but I wasn't until just a few months ago.

My point is, this was an excellant agency, and could be again, if someone else would take control and do what is right by the people who work here. If you see what has been going on and you think everything is fair, and that morale is fine, then I can only think that you are one of those that has gotten everything you ever wanted, and you are obviously not on patrol. Good hard working deputies are routinely passed over for transfers and promotion by deputies who have been in serious trouble. If they were outstanding then maybe I could see overlooking the discipline issues, but so far they haven't been.

Just my two cents, Cause I can't afford more. No raises again

You are all a bunch of cry babies. You should be thankful you have job. Especially one that pays so much and has great benefits. There are thousands of people in Tampa Bay that are out of work and don't know where their next meal is going to come from.

[The Nitely Blog]

There are thousands of people in Tampa Bay that are out of work and don't know where their next meal is going to come from.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, aint it coming from me, others like me and our tax dollars we pay out from our paychecks? Also what are thousands of people doing in Tampa Bay? Treading water or just having a good time? If ya meant the Tampa Bay area then just go back to my first point. Obamamoney got em covered or so I've heard.

You are all a bunch of cry babies. You should be thankful you have job. Especially one that pays so much and has great benefits. There are thousands of people in Tampa Bay that are out of work and don't know where their next meal is going to come from.

I remember a few years ago when times were good that the average person in the private sector wouldn't have pissed on a public sector employee to extinguish a blaze if they were on fire. Spend spend spend. Pointless spending for the government? Check. Houses that private persons can't afford? Check.

And now that everything has gone to hell in a handbasket these same people are suddenly jealous that we have a job with benefits. You're right. I am thankful that I have a job. But I can also appreciate that we are not getting compensation commensurate with the work that we do. I've made my sacrifices. I would like to see a little effort on the other end. But there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel. I'd be happy if someone could say, "When X happens, we will resume Y." But there's nothing. Not a peep. Just do more with less.

Perhaps these people who don't know where their next meal is going to come from should have taken a job that would still be in demand even when times are tough. Or hell, they could always just start breaking into homes or slinging dope. It seems to work for everyone else in Hillsborough.

Oh, that or panhandle in Tampa. Just have your traffic vest and be prepared to fight for that street corner.

If the union couldn't do anything for us, they why did they want to get rid of it so bad? Oh, yeah. That's because the sheriff wanted to give us more money and that big bad union wouldn't let them. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

How much like the Washingtonians have we become? To quote a news story, "A bunch of over-educated elitists are running things."

e·lit·ism? ?/??lit?z?m, e??li-/ Show Spelled[ih-lee-tiz-uhm, ey-lee-] Show IPA
–noun
1.practice of or belief in rule by an elite.
2.consciousness of or pride in belonging to a select or favored group.

The majority of the above posts have been some of the most ACCURATE descriptions I have heard about the current "state of affairs" at good ole HCSO right now. I too have been a VERY HARD WORKING deputy that never in a million years could have predicted just how screwed up this agency would become with those currently in command. I TOTALLY AGREE THAT BRINGING BACK THE UNION IS STILL A OPTION. I really don't care that the almighty sheriff & chief won't play fair or let us have our toys, because frankly, things could not get any worse then they are right now. These feelings are shared from those with (1) to (35) years working for this agency. IT WAS A HUGE MISTAKE to vote out the union and I tried in vain to tell everybody that when the silly debate began. All we succeeded in doing is giving more power to two POWER HUNGRY TYRANTS that will do ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING to make themselves look good at the troops expense. Whoever the supervisor was that posted a few posts ago, your post was right on target as well. The agency has turned to dog crap and it is being shoveled neck deep underneath us as time goes by. Any deputy that shines as a good cop cannot go anywhere with the politics now in place. All the tyrants want is complete rookie robots that have no other life experience or training, other then the "BRAINWASHING" they have received since day one. This is exactly why the agency WILL NOT hire precerts or prior Leo's, because they know how things are supposed to be done AT REAL law enforcement agencies.

I'd like to know how they came about deciding the most recent Corporal transfers? Did they get sauced and just put all their names in a hat and toss them into the air, landing on a map of all the different places to work? Or was it the standard procedure of who like who downtown and who has done them the most political favors. The worst part is, the sheriff & chief NEVER FOR A MOMENT took into consideration the hardships that many will now have to endure to suddenly adjust their work schedules and family lifestyle. How many more divorces will this set of knee jerk reaction transfers create? Do anyone here think they care either? Nope, they don't. As so many have been saying recently, coming into work now is a downer and everybody seems so unhappy and just plain miserable that work the street. Most 12 hour shifts now, you get NO BREAKS and NO LUNCH/DINNER break due to the dangerously growing volume of calls.

Lets not forget that our health insurance rates are fixing to go through the roof and Florida State Retirement System is continually threatening to reduce our benefits, do away with "DROP" or cut the rates in half, increase the already lengthy 25 year High Risk retirement to 30 years and make state & county employees now pay hundreds of dollars each pay period towards their pensions......and these are just a small list of ideas they want looked into.

Add all these things on top of the fact that the job of law enforcement is rapidly becoming more dangerous then ever, as evident by so many local deputies & officers being shot and losing their lives.

Face it, the agency has sunken to new lows and the real victims of all of this will be the declining amount of good citizens within Hillsborough County. The criminal elements are multiplying and making more and more areas of the county their strongholds, thus chasing the good citizens away or making them repeat victims of crime. The reason we see so many "Open Door" burglaries nowadays, is because people once had trust in their sheriffs office and felt so secure & safe in their neighborhoods that they had been leaving their dors open for years without any problem. NOT NOW......HCSO leadership purposely staffed the street so shorthanded so that "TYRANCY" could have it's way and basically try THEIR new experiments on "LIVE" citizens and deputies. The old saying about the smarter some people think they have become, the more their "COMMON SENSE" declines! Currently that statement is playing itself out at HCSO and failing miserably.. :!: ops: ops: ops: :?

What are the cush jobs?

What are the cush jobs?

ILP, SES, STAR, Crime Prevention (or whatever it is now called), Port, Recruitment and Screening, IA, and Vice. These folks work far less than patrol. While patrol is getting kicked in the teeth, the rest have fewer hours of actually producing. I'm sure there are those within each department that are dedicated and work hard, but by comparison, their workload is much lighter. They are all told they are "the cream of the crop." In milk production there should be much less cream than there is milk. We are increasingly top-heavy and the big money is going to all these supervisors that were necessary for all these created departments we have seen in the last few years. Also, since we took away the evening shift squad, there are 33% fewer supervisors on the street.