Sheriff is a sore loser, BUT!

TARPON SPRINGS - A power struggle between Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats and several city police departments over the public school beat last year is quietly creeping to a resolution.

The months of turf battles amounted to relatively minor jurisdictional shifts. Currently, city police officers patrol local middle and high schools or split the work with sheriff's deputies. Next year, this balance will tip only in Tarpon Springs, when local police replace the pair of sheriff's deputies at the high school.

But the detente comes after a stormy round of territorial scuffles that began last spring.

It started when word leaked out about preliminary plans for the Sheriff's Office to take over all of the school resource posts except in St. Petersburg. The purpose was to create a single districtwide set of standard protocols and policies on matters such as Tasers, restraints and trespassing. To local officials, however, the proposal meant surrendering turf to the sheriff. That prospect was met with particular resistance from four cities - Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park and Tarpon Springs.

City officials argued that local police were better equipped to meet the needs of their particular communities. And despite the fact that the proposal originated from Pinellas Schools superintendent Clayton Wilcox, some city officials viewed the switch as a telling sign of the sheriff's imperial plans to consolidate the 12 Pinellas cities that have police departments into a single countywide law enforcement agency.

Impassioned local officials flocked to the School Board meeting when Wilcox presented his proposal, Coats said.

"The chiefs brought in reinforcements, so to speak," Coats said. "I think the School Board was politically intimidated and decided not to move forward with Wilcox's recommendation."

Coats decided that the cities' officials made a strong case. "If these schools are so important to your community, why don't you take control of all of them?" Coats said.

The sheriff called the cities on their bluff, pushing them to back their convictions with budgetary sacrifices, since the School Board covers less than half the Sheriff's Office costs for the deputies assigned to schools, Coats said.

Instead of taking over, he planned to withdraw his deputies completely.

Coats sent an e-mail to Tarpon Springs Mayor Beverley Billiris, notifying her that his two deputies at Tarpon Springs High School would not be returning next year. He notes that his decision comes "after learning how important it is for your police department to have interaction with the schools."

"I suggest you budget accordingly," Coats wrote.

Tarpon Springs police Sgt. Barbara Templeton said city officers would be assigned to the high school next year, but Chief Mark LeCouris is still working on arrangements. Tarpon police are already working at the elementary and middle schools.

Coats said he was surprised that Clearwater police Chief Sid Klein declined his offer to stand down and withdraw the three deputies manning the middle schools.

"They were crying or whining; I'm surprised that these folks are resisting or refusing to take over," Coats said.

"We have neither the money nor the officers," said Wayne Shelor, a spokesman for the Clearwater Police Department.

Pinellas Park has no plans to change the current arrangement of shared duties with the Sheriff's Office. In places like Largo, where the Police Department provides all four school resource officers to the local public schools, the battle ended once the School Board balked at a wholesale takeover by the Sheriff's Office.

"I wish that the School Board would help fund them," Largo police Chief Lester Aradi said. "We do take seriously the commitment to our youth, and we will stay involved no matter what."


http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/04/Neigh ... sher.shtml (http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/04/Neighborhoodtimes/Struggle_between_sher.shtml)

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Just like the story says, the Sheriff is calling our bluffs.

Either we can provide all the services which the community expects or we can't. We can't have our cake & eat it too!

We should cover the H.S. and M.S., or not do SRO at all. I find it hard to believe that one officer for the M.S. is going to bankrupt the City!

It's not the Middle School that is the issue. If it was just the middle school I imagine we would probably jump at it.

It's the two at Oak Park that we don't want. These aren't our local kids. These are troubled kids from all over the county that didn't make it their assigned schools and now grace our fair city.

Those are the two we don't want.

I don't know if we can opt for the middle school and not Oak Park.

Pinellas County Schools has their own police officers. Although they are really small in numbers, the school board should request money from the county or the state to pay for more officers or just have the sheriff's office take over completely.

What would be the advantage the students or the residents of Pinellas Park to have the Sheriff's office take over?

If it is in the City Limits of Pinellas Park and it requires law enforcement service. PPPD should be prividing the service.

The advantage is that the schools are called the PINELLAS COUNTY SCHOOLS not the Pinellas Park School System.

Your Welcome,

5 Star

Using your logic, why then does the PINELLAS COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD have their own police department. Hmmm I wonder why the county felt it necessary all those years ago to start their very own police department.

pssssssssssssssssssssssss..... That would be the sound of the air leaking out of your inflated head.

Hey but seriously....we appreciate you stopping by...

Im sure all of the citiies P.D. s are worried about losing jobs,, I think the Sheriff was justified in calling your bluff. I would pull the deputies out of your schools right now. Go out and hire some more officers if you can. This is more concerning Tarpon P.D and Clearwater. What a Joke. Lecouris and Klien would probably hold the rank of Deputy at the S.O. I would also ask that you dont use our aciss/crime scene/helicopter/K-9/property and a whole lot of services you already piggy back off the S.O. Oh and have you forgotten who is the Chief LEO of the county. Maybe the S.O. wont respond to St. Pete next riot..........................

I can tell you this right now, all of the posts with the misspellings belong to the deputies...............so stupid, that is why others have to type their reports. Do us a favor deputy and stay on your own board, that is, if you can read it............................DUH.............

Hey Thunder and lightning,there was no bluffing at the school board meeting where the Sheriff took a beat down from the Chiefs.Check the record and then see if the Sheriff could even hold a patrol job on a city police force.He lost badly and is now losing all credibility with his actions. Order the Sheriff some cheese to go with his wine!!!!

Check the record for what. The fact that most of the P.D.s really dont have a full service department. The only reason you posted a response is because you work for one. Did you choose not to respond to the fact that most P.D.s already use numerous S.O. assets. Dont worry! even if the right thing was to go with a Metropoliton Police Force to save tax payers millions of dollars, The brilliant Chiefs and village idiots would claim that the taxpayers would"nt get a personal service from this type of Police Force. We all know that most P.D.s are top heavy and most of the salaries go to the brass. One day the taxpayers will get tired of the ego"s of the upper brass and B/S information they put out to save their jobs. Good luck and go METRO+++++++++++++++++++

S.O. is a bunch of Metro's.......go take the schools in Largo with Stanton you Metro....

Check the record for what. The fact that most of the P.D.s really dont have a full service department. The only reason you posted a response is because you work for one. Did you choose not to respond to the fact that most P.D.s already use numerous S.O. assets. Dont worry! even if the right thing was to go with a Metropoliton Police Force to save tax payers millions of dollars, The brilliant Chiefs and village idiots would claim that the taxpayers would"nt get a personal service from this type of Police Force. We all know that most P.D.s are top heavy and most of the salaries go to the brass. One day the taxpayers will get tired of the ego"s of the upper brass and B/S information they put out to save their jobs. Good luck and go METRO+++++++++++++++++++

Thunder and Lightning,you are so dumb that you can't work in law enforcement in this county.The city residents pay taxes to the county for those services,please do some research before you show your ignorance.The pitting county vs city is getting old,our county have some of the finest officers and deputies in the country and many of us work together as law enforcement brothers.Its only a small number of morons like Jim Coates that start these controversies in their greedy efforts for more power.

Check the rcord for what! You still wont answer the question about a large amount of S.O. assests being used by the cities that the sheriff does not get reimbersed for. Your not only dumd your what I call a heel,,,,,,,,,,,B---- me .

Without the Cities...The Sheriff could not pay for all those toys that you guys so generously let us use. :roll:

Just remember deputy, each city resident pays county taxes also, that pays for the toys your agency has. Why shouldn't our residents have access to them as well. Without city resident tax dollars, you wouldn't have those toys either. Remember, most of the residents in this county live in a city. If you total all the city officers up in the county, we outnumber street deputies.

Sleep well tonight...The future of the Pinellas County Sheriff's office rests on the hope of consolidation of services. Every two weeks your patrol area shrinks while most of the cities get bigger every month. Who is the dying breed?

Don't worry deputy, we always have room for a traffic aide...Oh wait a minute...You may not know how to work a crash. Um....is MAIT working...

To the guest!. The tax dollars that your city residents pay wouldnt amount to the salary of a patrol deputy for a year. i am sure every time we launch the helicopter your taxes may pay for some of the gas but hardly enough for the salaries of the pilots and other assests we provide for you such as K-9. I am not asking for your understanding with this matter because you think you are right because you work for a city pd. i am sure you dont have your facts together and you are only spuing at the mouth because your job may one day be in jeopardy. The one question is what would be wrong with a Metropolitan police dept similar to Dade and Jacksonville? Im sure some of you P.D guys wouldnt make the cut.

Thunder and Lightning STOP PRETENDING YOUR A DEPUTY!!!!!!!! Do not disgrace them with your stupidity and ignorance.Be like Sheriff JC, take your toys and don't go away mad,just go away.

you want to know what's wrong with a metro dept? ask miam gardens. They are starting there own department because the county ignored the residents and gave sub-par service. Much like the cities that contract out with you all now. Ask Seminole how great it is with 2 deputies. The park hits the road with a certain number of cops who are dedicated to that city and nothing else. I'm sure the residence don't want the cops that are here to go racing up north whenever there is a hot call. OUr cops work accidents, DUIs, burglaries, process our own scenes and all in all take very good care of our people. The only trouble we get into is amongst ourselves. When was the last time we were accused of excessive use of force?

and by the way, most of the toys you have are from federal grants and in order to keep those toys you have to loan them to the cities when we need them. County and City taxes couldn't pay for that stuff.

So get off your high-horse. WE are all here, we are all fighting the same fight. Leave the politics and garbage to the politicians.

Show us your wisdom smart boy and share with us your knowledge of the tax code. Give us a quote with some way to back it up where it shows that city taxes are only enough to pay the gas for the eagle.

We will be waiting for your tax knowledge and figures. Put up or shut up.

I dont have time to explain basic capital outlays and figures for you. If federal grants is where you think we get all this money from think again. One more thing federal grants are available to everybody so get to it. The average cost of 1 deputy ie meaning four total for one added position would probabley be 160,000.00 in salary and all the schools and training,,,,academy,F.T.O and additional lookin at 300.000.00 first tear. You got the money,,,,,,,,,

Thunder and Lightning,Go back to your mall security guard job and stop continuously showing everybody how stupid you are.You are not a deputy and you know absolutely nothing about the subject.

What is your point! Ok no surprise you don't have time to discuss Capital Outlays because you haven't a clue how the tax system works. 2nd...who cares if it costs $40,000 per officer what is your point.

Oh by the way, the figure is well over $100,000 per deputy / officer for each new position. You didn't take into consideration the cruiser and all the equipment that goes in it. Don't worry...I didn't.

Still waiting for your wisdom on the tax code.

Jeopardy music playing in the background.

[Even Acker can't save me]

Ok, ladies! Put your slide rules away! I'm jumping in this one!

Before I start, I'm going to update my PPPD knowledge. So, PPPD folks, please answer honestly, don't read into anything yet and don't claim some kind of homeland security tactical security B.S. to the following questions:

Are PPPD K9's still taking calls in addition to their actual responsibilities?

Is PPPD still sending 2 officers to all Sg30's?

Are PPPD officers still WRITING any of their reports?

Are those reports still about B.S. NO ONE will ever read and the only way out is to get permission from a supervisor?

Is it true the SWAT team is getting a donated ice cream truck for an additional tactical deployment vehicle? (OK, that one was a joke, sorry - but I really miss the old hand-me-down ambulance!)

Oh, and since this debate is going on on two boards simultaneously - the City of Seminole has between 3 and 4 deputies assigned to the City at any given time. They work traffic crashes and anything else a patrol officer in PP does. Seminole also has two City Traffic cars and two CPO's.

I'm not sure how many you think they should have with a population of 18,000 people, but you let us know what the magic number is supposed to be.

ok, let me answer this stupidity..

k-9, handle there responsibilities always

yes, we send two officers to all sig 30's because it's safe

yes, we write some reports

our calls for service are no more B.S. than anything else anyone else gets. do you mean that the S.O. only gets super high priority calls all the time? lol..I have family in your comm center my friend, I know what kind of calls you get. How about this one, "Can you send a deputy over to my house while I"m on my boat? I think I left the stove on." and yes you sent a deputy.

there is no magic number as to how many officers you need at any time.. But I remember hearing this one fine night. "Can I take a call in Seminole? They are getting behind." Response, "They only have so many deputies in the contract, if they want another one, They'll pay for it."

Without the Cities...The Sheriff could not pay for all those toys that you guys so generously let us use. :roll:

Just remember deputy, each city resident pays county taxes also, that pays for the toys your agency has. Why shouldn't our residents have access to them as well. Without city resident tax dollars, you wouldn't have those toys either. Remember, most of the residents in this county live in a city. If you total all the city officers up in the county, we outnumber street deputies.

Sleep well tonight...The future of the Pinellas County Sheriff's office rests on the hope of consolidation of services. Every two weeks your patrol area shrinks while most of the cities get bigger every month. Who is the dying breed?

Don't worry deputy, we always have room for a traffic aide...Oh wait a minute...You may not know how to work a crash. Um....is MAIT working...

Hmm, lets do the math:

Police Departments Gone:

#1 Dunedin
#2 Safety Harbor
#3 Oldsmar
#4 Bellair Bluffs
#5 Redington Beach
#6 Indian Rocks Beach
#7 Madeira Beach
#8 Seminole
#9 South Pasadena
#10 Bellair Beach (new addition)

Police Departments on Chopping Block

#11 Treasure Island
#12 Indian Shores
#13 Kenneth City

Police Departments Leftover

#14 St. Petersburg (slowly dieing from internal strife and drug dealers)
#15 Tarpon Springs (investigated by FDLE many times, he he)
#16 Clearwater (Good Agency, Good Chief, too many scientologists)
#17 Largo (doesnt know what its identity is, or Susan's :))
#18 St. Pete Beach (Tourist Police, rely on PCSO for real crime cases)
#19 Gulfport (borderline chopping block, use PCSO alot)
#20 Pinellas Park (dueling banjos)


Keep telling yourself that annexing two parcels a month will make our area "dwindle" away. You forget that cities that contract with us contintue to do the same. Even if SPPD met PPPD and we lost Lealman, we'd stay exactly where we are with manpower and services. Nothing will change that. There are areas of the county that Cities will never take.

Police Departments get disolved, not PCSO. Tell yourself that at night if it helps you sleep. But understand this: NO POLICE DEPARTMENT IN PINELLAS COUNTY IS SAFE FROM BEING TAKEN OVER. If you believe that your City will never consider it, you are lying to yourself. My job is safe, yours aint. Sleep well.

Nice post...Blah, blah, blah. Except if you think the powers that be in St Pete would ever let the PCSO take over, YOU are smoking crack. They gotta protect their own criminal interests and the Drug Trade that makes that city SO popular. :shock:

#1 SPPD will self implode eventually, someone will have to fill in.

#2 SPPD has a better chance of survival than your agency, thats for sure.

#3 Blah blah blah

#4 Resistance is futile and you know it

Deputy,which you are probably not, go back to your security job and take your bogus lists with you.1,2,3,4,5,6, etc add up to one number 0 you and your listare both 0's.Shut up and stop acting so stupid,

BYE-BYE CITY COPS

Bye Wham,you go away.City cops are here to stay.Bye now,don't go away mad,just go away moron!!!!!!!!

iLL KYA PU-K

A typical response from an immature rent-a-cop. BYE BYE WHAM. Careful with that pepper spray! :lol: