Turnover

Turnover exists within all corporations, and it is especially high in the field of law enforcement due to the stress and nature of the job. Everyone happens in peaks and valleys, and right now we are in a valley with our employment. Remember, the grass is not always greener on the otherside. Sure, the county has a lot to offer and a heck of a lot large budget, but they still play the good ole boy system also. I wish all of the officers that go to the county peace and prosperity, but there will be supervisors that truly rub them the wrong way too. All superheroes have enemies, and as officers we will have supervisors who are just plain difficult to work with. This is dangerous job with little extrinsic rewards. Much of the Dunbar public hates us, while those on McGregor praise us. There will always be supervisors that we do not get along with, and this is just the nature of the beast. We should use this as a reason to become closer to the supervisors who we respect; the ones that will take care of us and lead us through brick walls. I understand why people are flocking to the county at record numbers. We choose to be police officers and we deserve respect from our supervisors. How can we concentrate on staying alive with all of the political B.S.?

There are plenty of supervisors that I would bend over backwards for, and there are a few that I do not want to converse with. However, this is one of the facts of life. Remember all of our jobs before we were cops. How many of us did not get along with a few of our bosses? We must get back to the basics and remember why we became cops in the first place. I can tell you it was not for the money, and at one point in time all of us wanted to make a difference. Some of our colleagues have become cynical and distant, while others continue to move forward in their pursuits to improve the quality of life in Fort Myers. It is important to foster relationships with the truly good supervisors at this department, and there are plenty of them. I have nothing but the utmost respect for many of our supervisors, because they have treated me with nothing like respect and dignity. However, there are the ones that think that because they have a few stripes and they were selected at random by the head hancho that they become pious and God-like, and we should treat them as if this were lords and we are their humble peons. I have been yelled at and demeaned by a few supervisors, and these were rather unprofessional actions. It is easy to see how a hostile work evironment can develop. All I ask is that we are treated fair and not ridiculed. Do not ridicule me in front of anyone, and if you have a problem with how I operate please see me behind closed doors so we can converse like adults. If we can't talk to people like this on the streets with disrespect and condescending tones how can our supervisors speak to us in this manner? It is ashame that some of us fear our bosses more than the criminals on the street. We must get back to the basics and realize that we are on the same team, which is team dark blue. We fight crime and must be unified, and the distractions within the department can be hazardous to our health. Let's forget about who is sleeping with who, or who plays favorites. Align yourself with the supervisors who motivate you and make you a better officer, and forget about the ones that make things more difficult for you. I guarantee you that certain supervisors do not get along, and they have problems with the same people that officers do.

Remember, this is a 40 hour a week job and we all have families to go home to. We choose this line of work, and it is difficult. We cannot control who the chief promotes, and we cannot control how they behave. However, we can control our own behavior and lets return to the promise land in which the vast amount of supervisors and officers got along. We do not need internal division. I read the posts about the same supervisors that people bash on a daily basis. Some of the stuff people say may be true, but one of the cornerstones of leadership (which not eveyone follows) is to criticize the behavior not the person. Let's forget about the personal attacks on someone's weight, appearance, etc. and focus on the behaviors that enrage you. We will always have supervisors that we will not like, and some of it is deserving. We can only control our own behavior, and lets do what we can to restore the pride with this agency. When I first started here I was in heaven, and every day of work was a joy. In fact, I would have even worked for free. However, morale is at an all time low and the information highway only exists with the administrators. I applaud the Major for coming to briefings, but it is ashame that it took this website to get him there. I don't need a pat on the back by our bosses for doing my job, but it would be nice to have some of their support once in a while. A simple trip to briefing will boost morale, or even a phone call after a wonderful arrest. I have known several officers that have been seriously hurt in the line of duty and haven't even had a supervisor call them to see how they were doing. Instead they only get phone calls to see when they are coming back to work. This job has its pros and cons, and I hate watching good officers leave for the county. These are highly trained officers that are assets to our agency, and they are wonderful backup. However, I understand why they are going. Once at the county they will encounter supervisors that they do not like, because it is inevitable. We will always have supervisors that we do not see eye to eye with, and the best thing we can do is weather the storm and do the best we can. Stay safe everyone, and remember that as long as we all go home alive it is a good day.

could not have said it better...........great job and could not be more true....

Its not just about supervision, lets not be naive. Its everything across the board here! looking for a car, looking for a laptop etc.
How about the blatant,blatant,blatant double standards around theses parts flash? Guys being fired or forced to resign for minor incidents, while others are hired after being fired elsewhere for the same thing, and what about those that get serious complaints with the regularity of a pms. cycle? And nothing ever happens to them hmmm ,flash it seems like your trying to save a sinking ship by bailing out water with a dixie cup.
This has gone on for years and years ,and its not going to change ,because it can't. So maybe we should All switch to the county and do something odd -like improve services,response time, equipment ,payscale, and oh -gee-morale!
Did you know if we were absorbed by the county and kept EVERY single position from captain on down how much money would be saved?! ,just getting rid of the 2 ,9 to 5 useless major jobs, the chief, and a couple of slush political useless jobs like becky schell would save a half a million dollars !!! And thats just in those 4 salaries and vehicles alone!! Sound like a few new road cars and laptops to me.
Get a grip , if Trump was brought in to run this playhouse for just 24 hrs. we all may be wearing green, but we would have new cars equipment, and ethics, and no ,again not to be naive ,I know that they arent perfect either ,nor are they favor or game free, but on a scale- its a parakeet compared to a hawk with FMPD, its out of control and cant be stopped at this point without starting over.
Enough of this private empire for rednecks and GOB"S, let's join the 21st century!!!!

Why 136,-aside from the funny spankings you give those doofus's that spew propaganda here, this is well said ,and a suprise of the magnitude in savings the city mngr. could realize in plain obvious terms. What is he thinking?? makes mucho sense!

136, I agree with many of your sentiments. It is obvious that we have financial difficulties, which is obvious with our lack of equipment. On a daily basis we watch the rookies scramble for cars, and beg for computers in briefing. However, before we signed on with this agency we knew that it had many poverty stricken areas and the entire city is not rich like McGregor. Hopefully the commercial growth within the city will continue to explode, and the city should receive much more tax dollars in the upcoming years.

You mentioned double standards in discipline, and I do agree that it appears that this does exist within our agency. However, no matter where you go this will continue to occur on varying levels. Law enforcement is a lot different know than it was 15 years ago, and you could get away with a lot more things. However, cameras and cell phones are everywhere, and it is sad but true that our words are no longer good enough in a court of law. Think of this, Dunbar has a huge unemployment rate which means that most people are sitting at home every day. What is there entertainment.....watching the police. A lot of the people who have run into trouble with the administration have brought it upon themselves for their reckless actions. We all know that we can't chase cars, except under special circumstances, and once the handcuffs are on and the person is secure they are no longer a threat to our safety. However, certain people do violate these rules and should be dealt with accordingly. It is ashame though when new officers worry about every single complaint that comes through, and it feels like they are going through an inquisition. I just wish that some of the supervisors would take our word for what happened on the street, unless they have credible facts otherwise.

I believe that leadership makes a police department, and I am hoping that we receive stronger leadership in the next few years. People like Eads are born leaders, and they never forget where they came from. We know that this agency will never make us rich and we will never have a large budget, but we should know that when we come to work we will be treated fairly and with respect by our bosses. We all chose to be cops for a certain reason, and we should not be run off by mismanagement and poor leadership. Hopefully more progressive and educated leaders, with PEOPLE SKILLS (just like Bernice - I have never seen him yell at anyone and he always treats his people with respect), will become promoted and change the course of the agency.

Finally, I do agree that we are a top heavy agency that could better invest their money into capital for the employees. Do we really need two night time lieutenants? The agency operated well without them from 3 am until 7 am. I rarely spend any time on the third floor and for the most part I do not know how the upper supervisors spend their time. Maybe they work their butts off, or maybe they sit around the office water cooler all day long. I simply don't know and can't comment on their workload. However, it would be nice for officers to learn exactly what these individuals do on a daily basis, instead of the popular yet misguided belief that all they do is look for ways to hurt officers. We do have several civilian positions that are unnecessary, and could free up a lot of salary cap money for more police officer acquisitions or equipment. For example, we have a full time grant writer but how many grants has this person actually gotten for us? I agree with you 136 in that this agency needs to be run more like a business than anything else, and we do need someone that has business savy and police experience to make the decisions as to how to best allocate the financial expenditures of this agency.

Let's not forget that this job is what you make of it, and for the most part we work with some wonderful and highly trained officers. We work for each other and the citizens, not necessarily those in charge. The administration and officers will never see eye to eye and will never be on the same page, but lets do our best to forge better alliances and improve the morale of this department. I am tired of seeing frowns on peoples' faces at work, and want to go back to the old days when everyone smiled. When is the last time you made a good arrest and felt like you just hit the game winning homerun? Be safe everyone.......remember we all win when we go home safe. We must keep things in perspective and not sweat the small stuff. Dan Starks gave his life to this city and agency in October of 2003, and his ex fiance and parents never had the chance to watch him blossom in a job that he loved. The next time we argue about petty stuff at work just remember that Dan is not here with us, and hopefully it puts things in perspective. I would give my right arm to bring Dan back, and let's hope that we go an infinite amount of time without losing another brother or sister officer. For we all wear blue, and should bleed blue.

You almost sound like you're stereotyping, what makes you think most black folk are poor? I've seen ghetto's and dunbar may be crime ridden , but by far is not a ghetto. Just because a community is poor ,doesn't mean the city is, there is no excuse for equipment shortage.
As for people creating their own problems with admin, does that mean they should be held down forever? ,or fired for one incident? It doesnt happen to people here who have done worse. There are alot of racists here ,supervisors included, and chasing a bad guy seems ok ,until something bad happens and then we scapegoat.
What about cops being fired or forced to resign fo B.S. incidents, or for mdt abuse??!!, that would lose half the agency. Lets not make excuses for the bad stuff ,and aknowledge there is a serious long term problem here ,and if as 136 stated there are easy ,practical sloutions they should be explored.

I have read the post before, and read Brotha in Blue's post, and I don't see any racial overtones in the previous post. There was no mention of black, white, pink, purple, etc. The only think that was mentioned was the fact that the city gets more property taxes from McGregor because it is a richer area compared to the low property taxes it gets from Dunbar because it is a poorer area. Why does everything have to be racial with some people?

i am sure they are very happy across street with fmpd for training all thier new hires ........ keep up the good work admin youre doing great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Flash Gordon,

I understand where you are coming from, and you made a lot of sense. But it's not that simple, I understand that you would like for everyone to just get along. Maybe things will improve the near future, but this will not happen over night. The wounds need to heal.

There is one comment that puzzles me. "Once the handcuffs are on and the person is secure they are no longer a threat to our safety". Are you referring to a well known top cop? Handcuffs or not they are still a threat. Especially the person in custody is spitting at you or trying or head butt you, I strongly consider this to be an assault against an officer. And if someone who is in custody has a bloody lip and spits directly at your face, you have to wonder if the scumbag have AIDs.

Keep it real.

Hoo-rah and well said, that is one GOB sham we will never forget!!!

Flash Gordon,

You need to watch the prison stories episodes and see what someone in handcuff can really do to harm you. You would be surprise how aggressive someone can be in handcuffs.