Escapee from circus applies for management position.

[OPEN LETTER]

Once again we find ourselves in search of yet another Alpha 1. Senior management at DBPR can't believe this is normal, given the staying power of chiefs in other divisions and bureaus so I can only conclude they don't have enough interest to care. I read the People Second ad and can only conclude we are about to make the same mistake again. Why would we be looking for another chief using the same criteria that produced the last 17 chiefs? Why would any reasonable person think a worthy candidate would be someone with prior experience and management of a law enforcement agency?

Here is where it gets complicated for many. This isn't a law enforcement agency. THIS IS A REGULATORY AGENCY with a very limited and specialized law enforcement responsibility. When we bring a COP over here as chief we are dooming them to fail. Try to imagine spending 10-30 years at a sheriff's office or police department then stepping off that elevator into the fourth level of the most distorted reality show you can think of. You thought you could make decisions but you really can't. You thought your experience mattered but it really doesn't. You thought you had competent field supervisors (OK, you do in a few instances) and now you are being held responsible to oversee an agency that you don't have 100% control over.

We would be best served by having someone with nothing to with law enforcement as a new chief. I'm thinking we couldn't make things any worse. We have nothing to lose either.

I wish the new chief the best of luck. The only warning or advice I can give is the people that talk the most have the least to say. This will be your circus. Theses are your monkeys.

[Unregistered]

What is Barry going to do with all those personalized Chief Barry shirts he had made up?

[Unregistered]

To the original author:

Very well said. It seems as though every Chief thinks we are BROKE and they can FIX everything. Can't be done. It's like listening to a looped audio tape. You get the same thing over and over and over and over and over again.

Insert smiley face here!

[Unregistered]

Here we go folks. Both chiefs gone and a civilian who is barely 30 years old is our acting Chief. This place gets better everyday

[Unregistered]

Here we go folks. Both chiefs gone and a civilian who is barely 30 years old is our acting Chief. This place gets better everyday

I think having the director/deputy filling in as chief is the best thing that could happen for us. We have all seen what happens when you try to hire a career police officer to be chief. It doesn't work. Do you know why?? They come here thinking this is a LE agency. It isn't. We have a great director and deputy. Give them a chance. They are young enough to learn and they are good people without an agenda. Things will be great until we hire some retired/recycled/retread former captain/major/colonel to redirect us. Again.

[Unregistered]

I think having the director/deputy filling in as chief is the best thing that could happen for us. We have all seen what happens when you try to hire a career police officer to be chief. It doesn't work. Do you know why?? They come here thinking this is a LE agency. It isn't. We have a great director and deputy. Give them a chance. They are young enough to learn and they are good people without an agenda. Things will be great until we hire some retired/recycled/retread former captain/major/colonel to redirect us. Again.

Great wait until a agent gets involved in a real use if force. That 30 year will not be able to handled it.

[Unregistered]

Great wait until a agent gets involved in a real use if force. That 30 year will not be able to handled it.

Handle what, exactly? Reading a ble-107? Understanding the use of force policy? Understanding dynamics of confrontation? i think an attorney would be able to understand and properly handle such a simple thing. If I were you I would be more concerned with the sonar list.

[Unregistered]

Handle what, exactly? Reading a ble-107? Understanding the use of force policy? Understanding dynamics of confrontation? i think an attorney would be able to understand and properly handle such a simple thing. If I were you I would be more concerned with the sonar list.

@&&$@&? Auto correct! Should be SYNAR not sonar.

[Unregistered]

I think having the director/deputy filling in as chief is the best thing that could happen for us. We have all seen what happens when you try to hire a career police officer to be chief. It doesn't work. Do you know why?? They come here thinking this is a LE agency. It isn't. We have a great director and deputy. Give them a chance. They are young enough to learn and they are good people without an agenda. Things will be great until we hire some retired/recycled/retread former captain/major/colonel to redirect us. Again.

This and the original poster (if not the same person) sounds suspiciously like someone from admin who is trying to justify not having an Enforcement component. Having attorneys running the show is bad for business. Just look how inefficiently things are being run now. Look at how government in general is run. Both state and federal legislatures are full of attorneys and nothing gets done. It's not the position of the chief that is the problem, it's those above him or her. And who are they?

[Unregistered]

This and the original poster (if not the same person) sounds suspiciously like someone from admin who is trying to justify not having an Enforcement component. Having attorneys running the show is bad for business. Just look how inefficiently things are being run now. Look at how government in general is run. Both state and federal legislatures are full of attorneys and nothing gets done. It's not the position of the chief that is the problem, it's those above him or her. And who are they?

WELL SAID today