02-22-2007, 09:41 PM
I write the following hoping only that maybe in a small way it will help. Leaders not not born, they are made. Also, I have always believed it takes a good follower to become a good leader. That being said, as a leader I would try to be a good one and help others to some day take my place. That does not happen here. At TIAPD there are many bosses but few leaders. The bosses here do little to groom the future, but instead seem to be threatened by it. Change only comes from the top down and any opinions or ideas, other that those given to officers by the bosses, are not considered. To have police officers that do not or can not make arrests without being told or under direct supervision is a shame. Furthermore, the need to have 3 supervisors, a LT. Sgt. and Cpl., for 7-8 officers on duty seems to be a bit top heavy. The union here is seen as a joke, with little if any infulunce or power. In fact, there seems to be as many or more unceritified traffic specalists in the union as there are cops. Yes you heard me correctly, uncertified civilians vote for the law enforcement contract. On that same note, the number 3 man at the department, who is in charge when the Chief and Assistant-Chief are out , is not even a Florida Certified Law Enforcemnt Officer and has never worked as a cop. Furthermore, the department is given monies by the Federal Government to have a law enforcement presence at the airsides and respond to issues. However, these same officers are often taken from the airsides to write reports on slip and fall accidents to protect the authority against civil lawsuits. I'm quite sure that the public is OK with financing cops to write detailed reports on slip and fall scrapes. An good example would be: Someone has a slipped at the airsde. One police officer goes to pick up an ambulance and escort it to the airside. One cop goes to the scene to run the person who has slipped for warrants. The airport fire rescue unit, with two paramedic firefighters, responds in and emergency unit to the slip. You now have two cops, two fire fighter paramedics and an ambulance tied up on a slip and fall. Now for the next hour or more one officer is tied up writing a detailed report on how and why the person slipped in case they might sue. Make sense??? To the HCAA lawers and insurance guys it does. What about cops riding an employee bus to work without radios next to someone the be required to arrest latter that day. It happened here. This could go on and on. My point here is, this agency is a business first and foremost run by businessmen. It has had no sense of pride or professionalism, other than what they can buy. The agency is run by a Chief that gets his leadership style from George Patton and would just as soon you be seen and not heard. I hope this place bottoms out soon, only so it will get better. However, I'm not holding my breath.