What's happening in P-Cola?

[FloridaGator]

I left PPD after an enjoyable decade-plus tour of duty under the Louis Goss administration. The PPD was a great place to work, Mathis was an excellent supervisor to have, and IA was staffed by Norman Chapman, Glen Darling, and Timothy Poe, respectively.

Pleaes don't take this as preaching, but I have been exposed to several other LE agencies in my 25 years of LE service. The PPD was, and probably still is, among the better mid-sized agencies. Negative beliefs and sentiment can be contagious. This message board contains too much vitriolic material from current employees. Not everything that displeases you needs to be aired to the WWW.

Just an observation. The next time I'm in your city, feel free to issue me an HSMV 75901 if this angered you.

First off let me say I respect those that served for so long in the law enforcement community. But your old school, and this is the 21st century. Everything is on the news,paper, and web. The media is not our friend and we are criticized for everything. Things that were "ok" in your day..."fleeing felon" and such doesnt exist. A cop would do prison time for that today. I know what the motto was when you got 10-8 years ago and the club and such. Enjoy the memories you have though of a proud agency that the criminals feared and other agencies looked up too.

PPD is not what is use to be, its become a joke that all the other local agencies laugh.

Are you PPD and how can you make those assertions if you are not?

I joined the PPD in the early 90's under the Goss Admin. and then Lt. Mathis was in IA. During that era the PPD was in fact a powerful and respected agency. Back then Mathis actually had a "set". Now-a-days things are TOTALLY different. You cant keep or hire decent people, when you try to transfer someone they quit and you have an administration that will go after officers just because they think they are "gods". Goss was a damn good chief, Chapman was even better and Potts, well Potts was Potts. Every time I try to figure out what brought the PPD down I get a migraine. I dont know what what wrong, maybe it was the fact we went collective bargining and Mathis got his feelings hurt. I do know that if Mathis does'nt do something to change the dept. soon there wont be enough officers left to handle the calls for service. God, I miss the good ole days of being a cop!!

To Gatorman: I started at PPD under Goss too but my opinion of him is not as kind as yours. He was a hateful old man and had a "God" complex. He did not back his people up as much as you seem to remember that he did. He didn't back me up even when it was proven that I did not do what the alcoholic "respected citizen" said that I did. His was an era that I won't ever miss.
Yes, there are problems at PPD but it's not nearly as bad as some of these whiners say. They want to be babied and coddled. Most of them (the whiners) have no work ethic and therefore have no loyalty to the dept. or their fellow Officers. They never think about what they can do to make the dept. better, they only think of what the dept should be doing for them. It's a 2 way street guys. It's YOUR dept Do something about the problems. Start with your own attitudes and work from there.
Negativity is contagious and there is an epidemic at PPD.

Ive heard those words before....Yeah I guess the philopshy works...shut your mouth, do your job, dont ask questions that make sense, if you get complained on, then that means your doing your job (even if your supervisor doesnt stick up for you). We are all "whinners?"...no, we just see whats going on and nothing is getting changed. A patrol officer cant make the impact that the admin or the supervisors could. The sgts are probably more scared then the patrol officers are about speaking up. They have more to lose then most. Besides we are 2 busy watching our back, not getting to close to other officers because they rat you out if you make one comment about anything or anyone.

You know Im tired of people coming on this site and saying crap like it only takes a few to bring morale down and calling us whinners. The truth is you must be Sgts. or above and Mathis made you post on this site. Now I truly respect the retired guys that post but gentlemen, the dept. has changed. Only a few of us have the balls to speak our mind. We cant go to the Chief even though he says he has an "open door policy". Mathis has already proven he does not care about anyone except himself. He is a bold faced liar and nobody trusts him. The truth is Mathis himself has brought morale to where it is now. Instead of blaming us for the morale problem, the shortage of people problem and the way the PPD is in whole, start at the top, Mathis is the problem not us. Get a chief thats not a puppet on the city managers string and has a spine and the problem will fix itself.

With all of this going on, I have to ask. What is your union doing to help you? Surely there is something they can do to keep the Officers that are forced to resign from being railroaded.

"Only a few of us have the balls"...., Yeah whatever you say whiner. You have made it very clear to me that you are one of the trouble makers. What's wrong, get passed over for a promotion? Try doing the job you are paid to do and maybe you'll get one next go round. Walking around bashing everybody but yourself just shows that you have "issues" that you need to resolve. Are we feeling a bit inferior?
If you really think that Chief Mathis needs to make anybody post on this site. keep thinking. I get a kick out of telling you exactly what I think. I almost feel sorry for you. If you hate working at PPD that much, you really should go find yourself another job. I damn sure would not spend that many hours a day at a place that I hate.

So, you really get a kick out of telling me what you think. You gotta be an administrator, perhaps even someone in IA. None of the real "cops" here would even think such a thing. Your just a loser stuck in an office on the second floor waiting for Mathis to yell "jump"..I love this work but hate this place. I plan on sticking it out until my paperwork from another agency is processed, mine and several others, then is adios toliet bowl. You Mathis brown nosers can have it.......
You should have fun having to go back to answering calls because your turd-of-a-boss ran all the decent officers off.
Better start practicing on how to do those offense and accident reports again, loser...T.O.

To the last poster. Who the hell do you think you are saying that Mathis ran ALL the decent cops off? What gives you the right to make such a statement. There are plenty of good cops at PPD.

That depends on your defintion of decent cop. It sure as hell isnt a cop who is afraid of their admin. A decent cop stands up for himself and his fellow officers when the admin is trying their crap on them. A decent cop has integrity something thats been lacking down there for some time now. From reading some of these posts the majority of the cops down there now seem to working harder on keeping their backs to the wall rather than doing "real" police work. Integrity starts at the top and there hasnt been any up there for a while. Decent cops dont get fired for prostitution or asked to resign because they are lazy and liars, but hey when they see their own chief doing that they think its o.k. too. Next thing the whole department will be alcoholics. There might be a small handful of good cops left down there but for the most part Mathis HAS run off the really good ones...T.O.

T.O. you are so full of yourself . A good cop gets past all the B.S. and refuses to let it hold him down. I see them out there busting their butts everyday and doing a great job . You, sir are full of S--T. Since I started reading this site, your posts are so against everyone but yourself. I've met your kind before. You put everyone down to make yourself look better. That's pathetic and everyone sees right thru it.
There are lots of good cops at PPD, too bad you can't see that.

T.O., dont let these Mathis supporters get you down. I've been reading this site for a while and really enjoy what you say. I've been with PPD for a few years and have seen it go downhill. You dont talk yourself up you just say whats on your mind and there are a few of us that respect that. Like every bad thing Mathis will eventually leave and things will improve. Just keep on telling it like it is and if the Mathis supporters dont like it thats too bad. My opnion of what a good cop is; a cop that does not try to get past the b.s he works to improve it, but how do you get rid of an administration that is B.S. ??
T.O., you just keep telling it like it is brother!!!

T.O. you have obviously been down here for awhile and have seen the good and bad that the different admins have to offer. I too have been here for awhile and agree that times have been better in the past. I think it boils down to the relationship between the chief and the city manager. In days past, we had a city manager who supported us and appreciated the police. Now, Bonfield just sees us as a number. He doesn't care that officers are leaving, to him that means an officer who's making 30 or 40k a year will easily be replaced by a new officer making 25k a year, and to him that's just good business. Also, I think Bonfield has a lot of skeletons in his closet and he has a not so hidden dislike for the police. When you add a chief who is a contract employee and not mature enough, or maybe smart enough to understand the politics and the potential power he could have had, you get a lose lose situation for the officers. I agree there are still a good number of good officers still here, but I also agree that Mathis sure picked some good ones to let go of. I'm still waiting for things to turn around.

Mr. Positive, It is true that Mathis does not have the political smarts that Potts had or the nerve Chapman had. When it comes to politics Mathis has the commom sense of a second coat of paint. I too agree there are a few good, dedicated officers left at PPD but how could Mathis let go of some of the finest he ever had or will have?? You say you are waiting for things to turn around. I forsee that happening about the same time a baby hippo runs out of P.K.'s butt.....T.O.

40 years of corruption and the good old system can't be change overnight but if enough people have had enough and get vocal and vote and put the pressure on yhen MAYBE we will see change. alot of the changes you have seen are a direct result of the ronnie mac site whether the admin wants to admit it or not. They read it and rant about it daily!