Read this...Your responses will be fun reading.

Dear Just Me,
I do not know where you figure pocket change is the difference!
GP starts out at $36129.60 a year. The S.O. starts out at $40000. +
St. Pete even pays more than GP; they start out at $40000. + a year. That is quite a difference if you ask me or any other citizen. Your idea of pocket change could pay my homeowners insurance for the year with almost a G to spare. There is nothing wrong with the Impala's, don't forget they also drive Dodges, unless I am reading incorrectly and it really says Chevy... A lot of agencies have left the crown vics behind and moved on to something else.

Here are the most up-to-date numbers on GPD pay:

http://www.gulfportpolice.com/Pay_BenMatrix.pdf

The Sheriff's Office is not doubt a great agency with an abundant amount of resources. However, the citizens and the city government are happy with the quality of service GPD provides. Regardless of how our cars look, we get the job done. The officers know the problems of the city and handle them appropriately. I don't know what more you can ask for. You don't have to be shiney and new or modern to provide professional, high quality service to the citizens you serve.

I hear more and more that the citizens should contract the Sheriff's Office for police services. Especially from SO Deputies. However, this cry is not coming from the citizens of Gulfport. Also, I don't see citizens changing there minds. I think the appropirate cliche is, if it aint broke, dont fix it.

And yes, the city cut some things out of the budget related to law enforcement. But isn't that par for the course. And some of the things cut aren't really things we need, but things officers want. (New back up weapons for instance. The old ones still work).

If you think about it, The LE budget for Gulfport is the largest expenditure in the city's budget. Where else are they suppose to cut? This type of action is not new, its happened for years and will continue, in EVERY AGENCY, not just Gulfport.

Also, for the poster who referred to GP LEO's as a "good ole boy" network, your mistaken. Most of our officers are young. Very few old timers are there. I admit our PD is quaint, but far from a "good ole boy" network.

Why not let Gulfport be. I'm sure there is enough of the county for all of us.

Your missing one point "SO what" and that is, that its the majority of the GP officers that want the So to come and take over. and the main reason is not the equipment or the budget or even the pay.

Its how the admin treats the Officers. its the lack of trust in the chief and his henchmen. its the fact that officers are so affraid of getting in trouble for minor things. or the fact that JS might actually be a boss, which is utterly retarted

the fact is that there are many good officers in GP but they could be 100 times better working for a more structered department

Your missing one point "SO what" and that is, that its the majority of the GP officers that want the So to come and take over. and the main reason is not the equipment or the budget or even the pay.

Its how the admin treats the Officers. its the lack of trust in the chief and his henchmen. its the fact that officers are so affraid of getting in trouble for minor things. or the fact that JS might actually be a boss, which is utterly retarted

the fact is that there are many good officers in GP but they could be 100 times better working for a more structered department

You are right, Coats backs his guys 110%. Just look at the way he tossed his two Sgt's under the bus a few weeks ago.

I just couldn't keep my mouth closed on this topic.

If the SO came in and took over Gulfport, we'd be like Tierra Verde and South Pasadena. With what, one, sparsely visible SO cruiser passing through once in a while? I do almost all of my errands in South Pasadena, and I can't remember the last time I saw an SO vehicle there, except maybe at Rally at 3 am drinking coffee. The one time I called for an SO officer for a crash it took them 23 minutes. I'd take a venture to guess that there's never been a time in the history of GPD that it took 23 minutes for their first officer to arrive!

I can't go ten blocks in Gulfport without passing at least two cruisers, either on a traffic stop or on the side of the road somewhere doing traffic. There's what, 4-6 officers (including supervisor) during the day, and 2-4 late at night? That's pretty damn good for a small town. Back East, you'd be lucky to have one cop for a city this size. And he wouldn't be chasing people with open containers back into the bars or actively stopping the crack heads on bikes and writing tickets for having a light out just to make contact with next week's burglar/drug problem. You should be thankful for that these cops do.

Do you have any idea how many minor problems they keep subdued so that people who live here don't have to deal with the rabid bullshit? Yeah. So they might take a nap at 4 am after being on twelve hours because they are covering for someone else. They might be pissed off because someone's talking shit about someone else this week within the department, or a little frustrated because they're knee deep in another of the department's famous (and useless) DI's and IA's. They might be a little bitter because their supervisors don't listen, don't care about their officers (Yeah, that's right, you think any of the officers WANT 12 hour shifts and squads? HELL NO.) But the individual officers are doing a pretty damn good job regardless. You call them, they show up. And sometimes they find the bad guy, sometimes they solve the problem. But they are only human. They can't be everywhere at one time.

How in the world can anyone blame the officers for places getting burglarized. If you open a business, get adequate security for your business. Weather it be a working alarm system or sleeping in your business with a gun - you can't expect the police to sit in front of your shop all night long unless you want to pay them to do just that. Winn Dixie pays O/T officers to provide extra security with an off-duty officer. Your business want to do that? I'm sure an officer would love the O/T pay, and would gladly sit in your parking lot overnight as long as you're paying.

There's some 24/7 armed security services that would probably put someone on your property to patrol all night. If you want to pay them, go for it. But don't blame the cops because they are on some false alarm call, or chasing someone's dog-at-large instead of waiting around for your place to get hit again. Or maybe they're breaking up a domestic, arresting some crack-head with a warrant or babysitting some drunk puking across the street from O'Maddys until EMS arrives. Regardless, they've got plenty of crap to do, and it doesn't involve providing personal security for your one place of business.

If there's more burglaries than usual in Gulfport, get together an active crime watch. Let the business owners on Beach Blvd or 49th St take turns providing a watchful eye, or everybody chip in for some decent surveillance and security alarms. Pay for some of the off-duty details they want to see Officers doing. After all, it's the business owners problem that they won't install properly working lighting, alarms or locks.

And to the people from Motorbikes - if you're smart, you'll get your poor dog out of there before someone kills her. Baby is just that - a total Baby, and since we all known damn well she wouldn't hurt a fly, why don't you find her a nice safe home before someone kills her as an afterthought while they're ripping you off next time.

I may be a little late in responding, but, here I am. You remember the old saying that starts "sticks & stones may break my bones....."? Well, you can say all you want, it is not going to hurt me in the least. First off, the St. Pete Times misquoted me on several items which I let Ms. Silva know about, plus I copied the GPD. They neglected to mention that I hold the GPD in high esteem...that they are my friends. I had no idea about Child's Park when we purchased our buildings to open our "Mom & Pop" shop. Shame on me for not knowing, however; your comments sound like they are coming from one of the GPD officers or the SO. High dollar merchandise?.....I don't think so....very reasonable, if you took the time to look around. You have to realize that after more than 10 break ins that we DO look to the officers of Gulfport to protect us. I do not ask for "special" treatment to cater "to the few". The problem lies in the fact that we are in Gulfport and the other side of the street is St. Pete. You are the one that sounds like a biased idiot....and if I want to wear all of my fancy jewelry with a sign on my back, that is my prerogative, not yours. You did not have to pull the suspects out of your rear end, we gave you their names and their addresses. Yeah, we want more lighting in the alley, but we don't feel that we need to sign a long term contract to have such. I would welcome talk of splitting the costs. Write ups like this one pisses you off? Well, your comments piss me off more. You want to challenge us, I will gladly take you on. Bring it on.

I was reading this old article and thought how drastically things can change in just two years.

PCSO is making budget cuts and is in a financial crisis and Gulfport is still coming along with no layoffs thus far and hopes of annexing parts of the county.