Greg Stout
08-11-2007, 06:18 PM
August 11, 2007
Dear Fellow Tampa Police Officers and PBA Members:
It has been a good week. I have spoken to well over fifty police officers this week in passing and I am heartened by their sense of outrage over the arrogance displayed by our current PBA President, Kevin Durkin. One thing is for sure, we are beginning to turn the tide. I feel more certain each week that in the end we will take back our PBA. We, as a collective group have stopped the back door deal where Kevin Durkin was going to retire and become the Executive Director of the PBA. We stood up and shouted loud enough for them to finally listen. Kevin is now going to tough it out like the rest of us and remain at the police department, while he again runs for PBA President. How thoughtful of him.
Since I last wrote a letter to you addressing my concerns about the $58,000.00 secretary with the take home car, nothing has changed. I guess using Kevin’s logic, the PBA is still saving a lot of money in storage charges by letting the secretary use the car rather than park it. She can use her own personally issued PBA credit card to buy gasoline for it, so no worries Kevin, we are paying for this travesty with our hard earned dues, you don’t have to.
I told you all that I intend to “Stop The Stipend.” I believe that my current salary as a detective is more than adequate to manage the day to day operations of the PBA. I was under the belief that Kevin Durkin was making an extra $10,000.00 per year as a stipend to fulfill his duties as the PBA president. I owe you a personal apology Kevin. I discovered that your stipend is not $10,000.00 as I originally thought; it is $25,000.00 per year. I believe with your current TPD salary that puts you around the $105,000-$110,000.00 annual salary range. Where will it end Kevin? Will gold bath fixtures at the PBA be next?
On a final note, Sgt. John Swope called me a while back and apologized to me personally for some posts that he placed on the PBA web site. He removed them from the site and told me that he would not seek re-election for any PBA office in the immediate future. He said that he fully intended to go back to the street as soon as possible. John Swope is a good man and it takes a good man to apologize. I accepted his apology completely and I wish him well as he starts back as a squad sergeant in District One tomorrow.
When I think about the Kevin Durkin I have known for over seventeen years a quote from Abraham Lincoln comes to my mind, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Till next time,
Greg Stout
Dear Fellow Tampa Police Officers and PBA Members:
It has been a good week. I have spoken to well over fifty police officers this week in passing and I am heartened by their sense of outrage over the arrogance displayed by our current PBA President, Kevin Durkin. One thing is for sure, we are beginning to turn the tide. I feel more certain each week that in the end we will take back our PBA. We, as a collective group have stopped the back door deal where Kevin Durkin was going to retire and become the Executive Director of the PBA. We stood up and shouted loud enough for them to finally listen. Kevin is now going to tough it out like the rest of us and remain at the police department, while he again runs for PBA President. How thoughtful of him.
Since I last wrote a letter to you addressing my concerns about the $58,000.00 secretary with the take home car, nothing has changed. I guess using Kevin’s logic, the PBA is still saving a lot of money in storage charges by letting the secretary use the car rather than park it. She can use her own personally issued PBA credit card to buy gasoline for it, so no worries Kevin, we are paying for this travesty with our hard earned dues, you don’t have to.
I told you all that I intend to “Stop The Stipend.” I believe that my current salary as a detective is more than adequate to manage the day to day operations of the PBA. I was under the belief that Kevin Durkin was making an extra $10,000.00 per year as a stipend to fulfill his duties as the PBA president. I owe you a personal apology Kevin. I discovered that your stipend is not $10,000.00 as I originally thought; it is $25,000.00 per year. I believe with your current TPD salary that puts you around the $105,000-$110,000.00 annual salary range. Where will it end Kevin? Will gold bath fixtures at the PBA be next?
On a final note, Sgt. John Swope called me a while back and apologized to me personally for some posts that he placed on the PBA web site. He removed them from the site and told me that he would not seek re-election for any PBA office in the immediate future. He said that he fully intended to go back to the street as soon as possible. John Swope is a good man and it takes a good man to apologize. I accepted his apology completely and I wish him well as he starts back as a squad sergeant in District One tomorrow.
When I think about the Kevin Durkin I have known for over seventeen years a quote from Abraham Lincoln comes to my mind, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
Till next time,
Greg Stout