Mandatory citizen stops?

[Unregistered]

A deputy friend told me that deputies are being ordered to stop at least 2 people out walking a night and write down their information. When you multiply that by each officer on duty that is alot of citizens being stopped for no reason. Are cops allowed to even do that? It seems like a bad time in the country to be doing things like this. Can anyone clarify this for me?

[Unregistered]

Are you as a citizen allowed to stop and talk to someone you don't know (or do know)? The answer is yes, you are... Do you (or us) have the right to detain them ar arrest for no reason... The answer is no, neither do we.... If the citizen is committing a crime/infraction or we reasonably feel that they have committed a crime, or about to commit a crime, then we can detain/arrest them..

[Unregistered]

Quick question... If your deputy buddy told you about this, why didn't you ask him/her instead of starting a thread about it?

[Unregistered]

You see dear citizen, the Sheriff is concerned about numbers. We call them stats or statistics.

Sir Robert Peel has some very basic principles of policing, 9 of them actually. One of them is the following:

PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”

In basic terms, if you live in a sleepy little hamlet like Bellaire, you don't need to see cops everywhere to know it's safe. The citizens police themselves. They allow no shenanigans in their hamlet.

In other not so sleepy hamlets, say Lealman, the citizens need a little more support from the cops, therefore more visible police.

Alas, our fine Sheriff is concerned that someone will pull statistics and find his men and women are not "doing enough" to combat crime. Then he looks like a slacker who is not "Leading the way for a safer Pinellas". But in reality "the absence of crime and disorder" speaks for itself.

What now happens is that those above "order" the troops to bump up stats, bringing about a culture of trying to prove what you did on your shift. That breeds bad decisions and shenanigans to get stats up. Bad arrests, cutting corners, violating policy and statute just to prove you're producing product.

So yes fine citizen, we are being told to produce more product where none exists. Piss poor leadership (More like management) causes failure below. Our apologies in advance.

[Unregistered]

Oh, shut up james! Get a dog so you'll have something to listen to you instead of coming on here and talking to yourself.

[Unregistered]

You see dear citizen, the Sheriff is concerned about numbers. We call them stats or statistics.

Sir Robert Peel has some very basic principles of policing, 9 of them actually. One of them is the following:

PRINCIPLE 9 “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.”

In basic terms, if you live in a sleepy little hamlet like Bellaire, you don't need to see cops everywhere to know it's safe. The citizens police themselves. They allow no shenanigans in their hamlet.

In other not so sleepy hamlets, say Lealman, the citizens need a little more support from the cops, therefore more visible police.

Alas, our fine Sheriff is concerned that someone will pull statistics and find his men and women are not "doing enough" to combat crime. Then he looks like a slacker who is not "Leading the way for a safer Pinellas". But in reality "the absence of crime and disorder" speaks for itself.

What now happens is that those above "order" the troops to bump up stats, bringing about a culture of trying to prove what you did on your shift. That breeds bad decisions and shenanigans to get stats up. Bad arrests, cutting corners, violating policy and statute just to prove you're producing product.

So yes fine citizen, we are being told to produce more product where none exists. Piss poor leadership (More like management) causes failure below. Our apologies in advance.

The OP is not totally right. No one is being told to stop a certain number of people. But there is a push for more activity. I'd say the person who posted what's above is 100% accurate though. Effectiveness is not measured purely by stats, unless you work here and they are never high enough apparently. I'll say this, the troops feel the pressure and are getting tired of being told they do not do enough. But when you have a sheriff who has never been a road supervisor this is what you get.

[Unregistered]

Actually, this is to weed out all the undesirable hires that should have never been hired by the PCSO. They realized that they made a mistake hirin some of these people and now it's time to run them out of the agency. Also, it's time to get rid of some of the supervisors that were bad picks. These guys are more worried about their meal breaks than answering calls and doing their jobs. I've been on too many calls when a new hire, 5 years or less, tell me that they can't answer the call because they are suppose to eat with their friends at IHOP.

I have the stats and they are dismal. A lot of deputies with five or less FIR for the month. They should have at least 15 or more. Traffic stops less than 10 for the month.

The first hour of your shift, you can sit at a stop sign and get three to five traffic stops. You can FIR unoccupied and occupied vehicles. People walking that are willing to talk to you. People on bicycles with no lights. People at a closed business. Etc, etc, etc.

This job isn't that hard. Worry more about doing the job than your meal breaks and dodging calls.

[Unregistered]

Oh, shut up james! Get a dog so you'll have something to listen to you instead of coming on here and talking to yourself.

It is SOO funny how you toads blame EVERYTHING on James. Anything negtive... must be James. LMAO How do you guys ever solve ANY crimes??

[Unregistered]

This is all predicated upon the assumption that the Deputies are doing something illegal. If you cross the street at an angle, that's an infraction. You can lawfully be stopped.

The question is whether this is a good use of a Deputy's time. FIRs used to be about stopping someone suspicious and placing them at a certain spot at a certain time with a clothing description. "FIRs solve crimes" comes to mind.

Now they are a stat. That's why you see turds pull extra numbers for an "FIR" on other calls. Also why you stop the same bum on 28th street every day on his bicycle with no lights. Stats.

[Unregistered]

Actually, this is to weed out all the undesirable hires that should have never been hired by the PCSO. They realized that they made a mistake hirin some of these people and now it's time to run them out of the agency. Also, it's time to get rid of some of the supervisors that were bad picks. These guys are more worried about their meal breaks than answering calls and doing their jobs. I've been on too many calls when a new hire, 5 years or less, tell me that they can't answer the call because they are suppose to eat with their friends at IHOP.

I have the stats and they are dismal. A lot of deputies with five or less FIR for the month. They should have at least 15 or more. Traffic stops less than 10 for the month.

The first hour of your shift, you can sit at a stop sign and get three to five traffic stops. You can FIR unoccupied and occupied vehicles. People walking that are willing to talk to you. People on bicycles with no lights. People at a closed business. Etc, etc, etc.

This job isn't that hard. Worry more about doing the job than your meal breaks and dodging calls.

New hires demanding to take meals at IHOP?! You're so full of it! All the old timers sit and gab with their usual waitress for 45 minutes every day. I rarely ever see newer people taking more than 10-15 minutes to eat in their car each shift. Most people that have been here more than 10 years have gotten extremely complacent and lazy; then have the nerve to say newer deputies are lazy. Comical.