NPPD Restructure.. No LTs.. Add Police Commanders

[Stephanie Gibson]

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article...9584/2416/NEWS

North Port Police Department restructuring

By Michael Scott Davidson

Published: Sunday, September 20, 2015 at 1:00 a.m.
HERALD-TRIBUNE ARCHIVE / 2014
North Port Police Chief Kevin Vespia



Following advice laid out by the Center for Public Safety Management, the North Port Police Department is preparing to restructure next month.
The move will create and eliminate sworn officer positions. The department's four lieutenant positions will be defunded and replaced with a new position titled “police commanders.”
There are also plans to hire more rank-and-file officers, whose numbers are both down from this time last year and below what is budgeted for the new fiscal year.
North Port is in the final stage of hiring a new assistant chief of police, a position that's been vacant since June. City spokesman Josh Taylor said more than 40 people applied for the position. Its base salary is $78,355.
North Port has budgeted for unionized police officers to receive a 3 percent raise during the next fiscal year, city finance director Pete Lear said. He said it will be their first raise since the 2011/2012 fiscal year.
Third-party assessment
In May 2014, Police Chief Kevin Vespia recommended hiring the Center for Public Safety Management to conduct a third-party assessment of his police department.
The invite followed the suspension of two officers who were criminally charged with handcuffing and sexually assaulting a woman at a party. One killed himself as deputies came to arrest him; charges against the other officer were dropped.
The Washington, D.C.-based company published its 80-page consultant's report in October. It included 18 “major recommendations” for the department to better serve its community.
Police commanders
The most critical recommendation, according to North Port, was to abandon the police department's current “district command model” for officer management and replace it with a “temporal accountability model.”
Currently, two of the department's four lieutenants oversee patrol officers. Patrol squads are divided into two geographical districts separated by Sumter Boulevard.
But beginning Oct. 1, the lieutenants are planned to be replaced by newly hired police commanders. The police commanders will be tasked with supervisory duties in a time-based system.
Police commanders will work 12-hour shifts. Four will oversee patrol squads, one will oversee the special operations division and one will oversee the department's investigations division.
“The temporal model improves oversight and increases command presence as compared to the current district model,” Chief Vespia said. “The district model required lieutenants to work predominantly daytime and weekday hours, leaving a command level presence physically absent during the nighttime and weekends.”
Police commanders will effectively act as police chief during their shifts, Vespia said. They'll have the authority to address deployment and tactical issues. They'll also ensure management of personnel.
In total, the city has budgeted for six police commander positions. Four will be hired on Oct. 1, another will be hired by January and the last by April, with a preference for patrol commander positions to be filled first.
A civilian commander will oversee the department's telecommunications and records divisions.
“Nothing is official until commission approves the budget,” Vespia said. “However, we are working to be prepared for who will fill the positions.”
At least 45 people have applied for the police commander positions.
Among them are three of the department's current lieutenants: Edward Fitzpatrick, Gary Arsenault and Scott Smith.
Records show former Lt. Stephen Lorenz applied for a commander position, but then withdrew his application when he submitted his notice of retirement on Sept. 3. He had been with the department for about 20 years and oversaw the department's training, field training and reserve unit.
Lt. Fitzpatrick, with the department since 1993, has opted into the deferred retirement option program. He will be in the program from one to three years, and be able to draw his pension while still continuing to work.
At his actual date of retirement he will receive a lump sum payout.
Records show two other North Port Police Department employees, Det. Sgt. Jason Richter and Officer Joseph Fussell, have applied for a police commander position.
Vespia said his department strives to select police commanders that “will best serve our employees and who display the ability to mentor, lead and develop the future leaders of the department.”
“I consider the process to be fair, objective and meritorious,” he said. “And (it) takes into consideration the abilities, performance and willingness of the applicants to put forth the required efforts to develop their respective employees and hold them accountable, always ensuring we are practicing law enforcement best practices.”
Rank and file
The proposed budget for next year calls for 103 sworn officer positions, two more than the last fiscal year.
Police records show that as of August 27, 92 sworn police officers were serving with the North Port Police Department. That figure included Lt. Lorenz who has since announced his retirement.
On Sept. 9, 2014, records show the police department employed 99 sworn police officers.
Vespia said that his department is hiring more officers, but it has also maintained its minimum staffing requirements for road patrol officers.
As of two weeks ago, the police department had six open sworn officer positions: Four patrol officers, one school resource officer and one criminal investigations officer.
But there are two new patrol officer hires currently participating in field training, Vespia said.
The police department is conducting background checks on four more applicants, which typically takes at least a month to complete, he said.
Those applicants have already finished a written exam, physical abilities test and oral interview. They must still complete a lie-detector test and interview with Vespia before being hired.
In April the police department will begin searching to fill three more sworn officer positions.
The department also plans to replace one of its current police officer positions with a training sergeant, who will oversee the department's training program.
In another development, the police department and Southwest Florida Police Benevolent Association union have reached a tentative agreement that unionized officers will receive their first raises since the 2011/2012 fiscal year.
The city's finance director reports that a union agreement draft has unionized officers receiving a 3 percent raise in October 2015, 2016 and 2017.
If the agreement is approved, the unionized officers will receive a retroactive raise of 3 percent for the last fiscal year. The officers would receive a lump-sum payment for those raises.

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[Unregistered]

I knew a lot of people put in for positions, but did not know it was damn near half the department. Some people sure hold one he'll of an opinion of themselves. Especially those who have applied who have no experience in command or as a supervisor.

I do know of one loud mouth, swelled head, no ranker who thinks he should be chief. Those on night shift know who I'm talking about.

Another.point, the chief is going to thoroughly have each and everyone of these applicants checked out, tested, and interviewed and the jobs filled in the next few weeks? That sure as he'll is going yp cut in to his bullshit time over at city hall.

Why do I get the feeling that it is already preordained who is getting those jobs?

[Stephanie Gibson]

Considering we are less than two weeks out..I certainly hope they have the org chart worked out. I have heard rumor of a couple but it is purely that.. Rumor. I hope the new structure is shared with the public.

I would like to know what performance measurements these changes will be evaluated on?

[Unregistered]

The experienced lieutenants were passed over. Didnt fit into his plans. Demotions to sergeants was his answer to experienced supervising. Read between the lines in that story about lieutenants.

[Unregistered]

Wonder whst line of bulletin Kevin will feed to city hall if he picks someone with no supervisory experience? Then again they bought in to the ISSI crap, so they will more then likely believe him on this as well.

It will be interesting to see when (not if) one of these new commanders have some shit happen on their watch and someone in the public gets injured or killed.

The legal community is going to have a field day with a law suit.

I hope everyone noticed in the article Kevin stated that the commanders will be just like a chief. Guess that means that if something like the above does take place, Kevin figures that he will not have to testify about it.

If all these commanders are going to be doing Kevin and Chris's jobs, what the hell will they be doing?

[Unregistered]

Funny how out of 4 Lieutenants only one will be promoted. Since two were told they had no chance and the third took a voluntary demotion that says a lot about this administration. That is over 65 years of police experience there alone. There is something wrong in an agency when this stuff happens.

[Unregistered]

Funny how out of 4 Lieutenants only one will be promoted. Since two were told they had no chance and the third took a voluntary demotion that says a lot about this administration. That is over 65 years of police experience there alone. There is something wrong in an agency when this stuff happens.

And nobody sees this but us. City hall has a blind eye. The commissioners just don't wanna know while Lewis keeps on letting his department heads do whatever the F@ck they want. Good people are getting screwed and the ball sucks are getting rewarded at the PD. Atta boy KV, keep on screwing the pooch.

[Unregistered]

And nobody sees this but us. City hall has a blind eye. The commissioners just don't wanna know while Lewis keeps on letting his department heads do whatever the F@ck they want. Good people are getting screwed and the ball sucks are getting rewarded at the PD. Atta boy KV, keep on screwing the pooch.

There are citizens that are watching and planning to expose this and more. Without help from the inside, it's going to be hard. If you are willing to contribute....let it be known.

[Unregistered]

Let's see....Union busting, age discrimination, and the usual "miscommunication" when he is caught lying. How many openings has he got right now at the PD that he has "miscommunicated to the public right now? A whole bunch more than he claims! Besides that he is taking road patrol positions and turning them into suck ass commander positions while us grunts on the road work short handed every day.

[Unregistered]

There are citizens that are watching and planning to expose this and more. Without help from the inside, it's going to be hard. If you are willing to contribute....let it be known.

What difference a year makes. It was about this time lat year that there were postings about how we were being treated like shit by the public. Then there was other posts telling that it was devisive and useless putting anything on this forum.

Not sure if it is karma being a ***** or just plain old fashioned hypocrisy rearing it's ugly head.