Never ending story

"I am sorry if the citizen whose newspaper letter appeared at the beginning misunderstood, but the mistake was his misunderstanding."

If you had stopped after the first three words it would have made sense and been truthful for once.

You are like a book, blame everyone else to get the heat off you. It was the reporters fault for printing it and the citizens fault for reading it. How you got hired or maintain your job is a miracle.

Worthless!!!

Okay. How about this? I am sorry I did not make myself more clear. That is the truth too.

Russ Barnes, ZPD Chief

You ZPD guys are a bunch of cry babies what will it take to stop your crying. You guys have decent pay, FRS, and take home cars and yet you still cry.

Your chief stepped up to the plate and explained things, yet you still ***** and moan.

I heard your chief was a stand up guy from officers he worked with in Pinellas Park.


What is it that you guys really want? Is there a chief out there that can do anything difrently than the one you have?

Thanks for the support, really. But I'll have to defend the ZPD officers because as a group, they are not cry babies. Most of the posts above are not from current (and maybe not even past) employees. ZPD has a really good bunch of officers and civilians who work pretty hard and do a darned good job. This was true before I got here and it's still true, so I'm not claiming credit for it. Things are really starting to click insofar as passing information back and forth from squad to squad and from patrol to CID and back. They're keeping up to date on whose out there doing what and whose wanted and they don't mind passing the information on so another shift might get the arrest rather than keeping the information to themselves. This is the way a good police department is supposed to work.

Can some things be improved? Of course. Are things getting better? Overall, I believe they are. Some things are getting better faster than other things are. Do our officers sometimes make mistakes? Of course. Just like our supervisors and I make mistakes. We're a department of human beings who have good days and bad, good luck and bad, good relationships and bad both on and off the job. But we're working on it and if you look at the work going on by the officers, the dispatchers, the records and crime prevention personnel, things are headed in the right direction. When we make missteps, we'll correct them and get back on the path.

Am I ever going to make everyone happy? I seriously doubt it and only a fool would try to please everyone all the time. I will continue to try and do what I believe is best for the agency and our community. Regardless of what some may think of me, I know that every officer we have is capable of doing really good police work because every officer we have has done it.

We just received confirmation today from FDLE that a suspect in 3 burglaries has been identified through DNA evidence to a suspect whose DNA was obtained in Nevada. We've worked some really technogically advanced cases with the U.S. Marshalls to catch a stalker using satelites. Through a knock & talk our drug detective just made a couple of great cocaine busts and warrant arrests and seized an automatic rifle - all from a citizen tip that was passed on. We work very well with PCSO and DCPD, as well as out of county agencies.

Some who liked me before don't like me now and some who like me now didn't like me before. There are probably some who will never like me. That's okay as long as it doesn't interfere with doing the job and catching bad guys and making the community safer with good old fashioned police work.

So there are a lot of good things going on at ZPD, because we have a whole bunch of really good people working there and we're striving to make a positive difference every day. If anyone from any other agency needs our help with anything, just ask and we'll be glad to do whatever we can for you.

Thank you,

Russ Barnes, ZPD Chief

its nice to see your wife supports you

Just a few ideas cheif. When you are on this website, make sure you're not doing this from your work computer. Also, tell Sgt. Rob P. A.K.A. "Hollywood" to stop telling you what to write. Chief, just a few words of advice, your staff can make you or break you. But, I think after what I've read so far, that advice is a little too late. You're already broken and need to go or you need to step up and do your job and stop the good old boy system you've got going on, To all Staff at Z.P.D. the freinds you think you might have at this department... take a good look... that same freind you think you have will sell you out in a minute just to climb the good old boy ladder. Cheif take a good look at your staff. You have some good officers but Sgt.Rob needs to be Knocked down a notch. It seems to me that all the good officers you have get the shaft while the ones that suck get promoted. How does that work? I don't work there but I have lived in Zephyrhills my entire life. I know most of the staff and could give you a list of all the good and bad, but if I did that, the good would be punished and I, even as a citizen, would not do that to them. Take a good look Cheif all of this still applies to you to when the time comes which it is the people you might think will help you out will sell you out. Sorry Sgt.Rob P. your a nice guy but your a little high on your horse and you need to remember your job and to respect your staff and peers and stop trying to get in the newspaper.

chief you have this dept all messed up you need to go

This is the very first time I have posted ANYTHING on the ZPD board, and I've never asked anyone else to, nor do I know who has posted anything on the ZPD board other than those who have identified themselves on the board. That's the truth.

Also, I promised that if I ever DID post anything, I would identify myself and as you see, I have done so. Anyone may call or ask me if this is really my post and I will confirm it.

Now that those points are out of the way, I'll address this string. I see some fun has been had at my expense and I certainly don't mind that, but I do want to correct the serious misconception that started this entire string.

Yes, the paper quoted me correctly. Out of context, but correctly nonetheless. However, even out of context I believe it is obvious that I certainly wasn't actually suggesting we move our sex offenders to Dade City or to ANY other specific place. I only mentioned Dade City because at 8 miles distance, it is the closest city to us. My point was that even if we moved our sex offenders there (or anywhere), OUR citizens might be happy about that, but since the offenders have cars and can still drive, that wouldn't really solve the problem our City Council is trying to solve with this ordinance they are considering. I also pointed out that even if their place of residence is restricted, they are still allowed to walk by the schools and daycares and use the parks where children play, unless they have specific restrictions as part of their probation or parole conditions.

THAT was my point and anyone who was there knows that and anyone reading the out-of-context quote should be able to see that as well. I find it somewhat disconcerting that one can go from board to board on this site and see numerous references to how bad the news folks take things out of context and twist things to get a certain bad spin on officers, but when you read something about a chief, it must be gospel.

I am sorry if the citizen whose newspaper letter appeared at the beginning misunderstood, but the mistake was his misunderstanding. He (or she), received a letter from my City Manager explaining the full context of the remark. Not surprisingly, I haven't heard any apologies from the citizen for what turned out to be a false accusation - but how many times in our careers has that ever happened to any of us?

Personally, for the record, I like Dade City and this whole area over here. I respect their Chief and their PD.

So now that the serious part of this string has been set straight, go ahead with the rest of it and have a good time. I, for the record, am a Florida native and call and Interstate an Interstate, but I call the VetEx or Suncoast Parkway an expressway, so it's obvious the theory has several exceptions. I hope those of you who qualify have a great Father's Day and a good week, and a great day and a good week to the rest of you too. Above all, be safe.

Russ Barnes, ZPD Chief

Do you work at the police station of from your flea ridden barn out behind your home? It is evident that you have WAY too much time on your hands if you have time to find read and respond to something while you should be working, or are you taking time out from your Asteroid game. Resign and let a real cop do your job. Someone that isn't your butt buddy, that is.