Please only make an intelligent reply...

Look, if you are truely questioning whether or not to stay with this agency after almost 3yrs, here is my advice for whatever its worth.

You have to ask yourself what do you want to do in your career. The truth is that your options are extremely limited at LPD. If you like patrol and are not looking to get into ISD or any other specialty unit then you wont find a better place to work. If you want to explore other units and expand your experience then this isn't the place.

A lot of your 20 something complaints are not true and it sounds like you have already made up your mind. Be sure you know what you want and make your decision soon.

You wont find better people to work with or better trained people. You wont get schools so quickly. With your limited experience don't think you will be able to try out for TAC or be and FTO somewhere else. I hate the fact that LPD allows someone with two years exp. to be an FTO and or TAC member but if you are given the opportunity then I can't fault you for getting it.

Long story short, I have been with LPD for quite a while and I thought about leaving many times. If I was at your level again I would be gone. And the only reason I would be gone is the opportunity to do something else besides Patrol.

As far as your trivial complaints such as back up gun and long rifle those are stupid reasons to think about leaving. MOst LEO's never pull the trigger of their primary gun so what makes you think you need a back up! Just another useless piece of equipment to carry around.

Good luck with your decision, you are at the pivotal point in your LPD career. If you wait any longer to leave, theres no point.

Someone wrote 499. Holy cow! 499?!

419

That was a generic number. We aren't that high (yet)

I just hated it when they hit he 28s...128,228. Dispatch would call them and wake me up. Made me grumpy.

#28 gumpy!? Nah.....

Most of these complaints are valid. Why do you need a back up gun? What is suspects somehow get's your primary weapon? Long rifles are great for extra fire power and hot calls. They allow you to cover officer backs from a longer range. You talked about Pinellas Park's take home policy. I think it is actually within 30 miles of the city limits. Which would include much of Pasco. (which would be better than the one we have at PSCO where I work) A lot of your other points are issues that you all need to take care of with the help of the union. What specialized units do you have there? I know when I worked at the Park. They had CIS (around 6), training division ( 2 officer's), Crime prevention (1 officer), narcotics ( 3 officer's), motor unit (2 officer's), bike unit (two officers), traffic unit (5 officer's) SRO program (2 officer's) That is around 21 spots that are not in patrol. Pinellas Park is no larger than you. I would suggest the green machine to most people. However we have our issues as well. Also the city could care less if you been there 2 weeks or 22 years. They prefer the 2 week officer's they make less and cost less. They to copy the calls, just as the senior Officer. What's the difference? Knowing what to do when you get there. Are you serious you can't talk on your cell phone and drive? Are they ganna make ya pull over to type on the laptop top? Heck if the So made us stop to talk on the phone, I would simply activate my overheads and sit right in the road and talk on my phone.

Be thankful you all have jobs in law enforcement. Yea there might be things about your job that you dont like, but think about it. If all you are willing to do is dwell on it and gripe about it, and bash other agencies then you will never improve your situation. If you want to enjoy your job more and get more satisfaction out of it you need to start looking for all the positive aspects of the job and remember that however important you think you are or how bad you think the agency is there are always more recruits in the academies that would love nothing more than a job.

Just remember what you have, and think of what others dont have. Trust me, you can choose to be unhappy or you can choose to be happy, but thats your choice.

I'll stick with being happy and thankful that I actually do have a job.

I'll bite on number 25. You complain about having only 8 officers on mids....but you're entire shift is eating at IHOP at 4am?!??!! Who's taking care of your city??!!

Ref #25....Its been like that for over 10 years......the result of poor supervision....