Largo police Chief Aradi receives heavy community support

[NewsHound]

Largo police Chief Aradi receives heavy community support after city manager suspends himief


Calls and e-mails are streaming into City Hall in support of Largo police Chief Lester Aradi, who was suspended for three days for his handling of a discipline matter.

City Manager Mac Craig said he disciplined the chief because Aradi used poor judgment in suspending rather than terminating an officer who fixed a traffic ticket.

"I've gotten some very warm feedback from the community saying we appreciate everything you've done here," Aradi said Friday afternoon.

Aradi, who is chairman of the Pinellas Police Standards Council and just stepped down as chairman of the Florida Police Chiefs Association legislative committee, said he's received about two dozen calls from chiefs throughout the state. About two dozen friends also called to wish him well. And by early afternoon, two citizens called the department to say they were on his side.

His supporters included the wife of U.S. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, Beverly Young, who was instrumental in fundraising for the late Largo Police Lt. Michael Renault, before he lost his battle with cancer in February.

Aradi did "the right thing," especially in light of the state's high unemployment, she wrote. "Firing an officer because of a stupid literally harmless indiscretion, would have been a travesty."

By early afternoon, the chief had received about a half dozen e-mails from colleagues and citizens.

Some just offered support. Others railed against the city manager.

"It's a sad and embarrassing day, for all Largo residents when a City Manager steps in and interferes with the safety of those residents, because he was unhappy with how you handled an internal employee issue," wrote resident Jeremy T. Slater.

But at least two commissioners reached Friday said they backed Craig and his decision.

"(He) stuck up for what he thought he was right," Commissioner Harriet Crozier said. "(Aradi) has a duty to perform and that's what I think he should have done."

"I support the city manager in the action he took," Vice Mayor Gigi Arntzen said. "I think it was appropriate."

Both the chief and the city manager stuck by their decisions Friday and pointed to elements of the City's Code of Conduct that back their decisions.

Aradi, who will begin his suspension Monday, said that the code itself says that it provides "working guidelines to encourage equitable and businesslike conduct."

Craig pointed out that the code also says that immediate discharge is called for when employees commit certain serious offenses.

"There's a point in time where you say, 'Here's the line.' It's not ethical for a police officer to fix a ticket," Craig said.

Click Here for the Source (http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/article1011912.ece)

My hat is off to the Chief. The CM is an azzhat. I hope that the citizens of Largo appreciate what they have, and let their commissioners know that they do not appreciate having the professional administrators they hire being second-guessed by a hack politician who obviously has an axe to grind, and has used this to take a cheap shot. Maybe some friendly LPD member could post his car/plate? I know I would make a real effort to help the CM understand the cost of his actions.

What is wrong with Largo city managers? Ther first one wanted to cut his pickle off and wear a skirt, this one probably doesn't have a pickle and does wear skirts.

Sheesh!

Where do you council people find these goofy two bit hacks?

I work for another agency in Pinellas County, and if you do things similarly, you probably have a pre-typed memo for voiding citations. In our case, the officer just fills in the citation number, date, and the name of the person who was cited. The rest of the language in the memo is already filled in, and I'm sure it says something such as, "this citation was issued in error."

New officers are instructed that, whenever they want to void a citation, for whatever reason, they are to fill out one of these memos and submit it to the clerk's office. Good cops do as they're told, not really paying that much attention to whether or not the memo's language actually fits the circumstances.

Fixing a ticket for a friend of a friend (or anybody for that matter) is bad and worthy of the discipline imposed. But the city manager's point is that the officer should have been fired for submitting a false memo. Because I haven't seen anything in the paper or on this site, has anybody brought it to Craig's attention that the officer may have just been doing what was routine rather than actually and intentionally submitting a false document?

What is wrong with Largo city managers? Ther first one wanted to cut his pickle off and wear a skirt, this one probably doesn't have a pickle and does wear skirts.

Sheesh!

Where do you council people find these goofy two bit hacks?


Now thats some funny shiznit, I don't care who you are. Pickles and skirts....Woohoo...sounds like a fun time to me!

Clearwater Gazette
Largo Personnel Code Shows Aradi Acted Appropriately

by Leo Coughlin

LARGO - In suspending one of his officers for a breach of the city's Code of Conduct, Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi acted perfectly appropriately, according to the code itself.

Yet the chief was assessed a three-day suspension by Mac Craig, the city manager. Craig gave as a reason for his action that Aradi used poor judgment.

An examination of the facts appears to show that quite the opposite is true.

While Aradi was serving his suspension on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, messages of support for the chief and his action were flooding into City Hall and the Police Department.

At the same time, questions were being raised in some quarters about Craig's performance as city manager.

The flap began with the revelation that a police officer, Anthony Citrano, one of the department's top officers, had downgraded or fixed a motor vehicle violation ticket.

The city's Code of Conduct lists about 50 infractions that call for disciplinary action.

However, the code says this very explicitly -

"The Code of Conduct rules . . . are designed to ensure the rights and safety of city employees and to provide working guidelines to encourage equitable and businesslike conduct."

Aradi obviously was faced with a breach of the rules that he had to deal with.

He applied discipline, he said, in accord with the situation, the individual involved and the guidelines.

The code says -

"Although internal consistency in administering discipline is desirable, numerous factors should be considered in determining the appropriate level of discipline to be assessed . . . Some of the factors involved include, but are not limited to . . . willingness to improve, overall work performance, job attitude . . ."

Typical of Aradi's way of working in a careful, prudent manner, he checked with the State Attorney's Office to discover that Citrano had broken no law.

On the city's list of infractions, it appears that Citrano broke number 25 which relates to "falsifying an official record" (although he did not actually do that) and number 38 which relates to using "one's city position to obtain . . . a special favor."

When Aradi took over a police department eight years ago that had been riddled with scandal and problems, he told his personnel, "I have one golden rule. If you make a mistake admit it, don't lie, don't cover up, show me you have learned from it and you will not do it again, and I will back you."

Good police officers are hard to come by. With Citrano he had an outstanding officer.

"He came to me devastated, in tears," Aradi said. He admitted he had made a colossal mistake, to do a friend (in the department) a favor. He was contrite. He has lost his chance in the immediate future of being promoted to sergeant."

Given that, and measured against his own policies and the city's Code of Conduct, Aradi says he exercised the discretion that the Code clearly allows and suspended Citrano for 10 days.

Craig wanted the officer fired, but his wishes went by the boards because the punishment had already been decreed and a violator cannot be punished twice for the same offense.

Aradi has proven his excellent judgment over the years since taking over a police department that was dysfunctional.

"I know in my heart I did the right thing in this case," Aradi said. "I learned from a chief I once worked for that there is such a thing as doing things right and doing the right thing. I think I did both in this case."

At the same time, Aradi said he had the highest respect for Craig and does not want his relationship with the city manager damaged.

Craig, who had been on the city staff, was appointed to take over when Steve Stanton left the city more than two years ago. Craig had no previous experience as a city manager and was appointed largely on the basis of friendship and cronyism, in the view of many.

Mayor Pat Gerard at the time, to her credit, favored going outside the city to find a qualified and experienced city manager, neither of which applied to Craig.

Even so, the city had at hand Henry Schubert, an assistant city manager and long-time city employee who had all the qualifications lacked by Craig.

Good article by Leo, however, God help us if Henry was the city manager. Henry wanted all three employees fired!