FHP to be Dismantled

Greetings fellow Officers, this is what every DHSMV Employee recived by our ED on Friday afternoon at 5:06 p.m..

This is our director that wants to dicmantel FHP and allow the sheiff's office to take it all.

From: Jones, Julie
Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 05:06 PM
To: DHSMV-Everyone
Subject: Legislative Update


Dear Members,
The Department has worked diligently over the past few years to find operational efficiencies and reduce spending. The State’s budget deficit requires lawmakers to continue to do the same. A number of ideas are being discussed that could affect the way the Department and/or FHP are organized. Legislative committees are meeting and all ideas are options at this point, as no bills have been filed. It is important to remember that we are early in the Legislative process and the ideas being discussed today could change multiple times before session ends. Those ideas include:
· Motor Carrier Compliance being moved from DOT to FHP
DHSMV being moved to DOT
· Motor Carrier Compliance and FHP being moved to FDLE
· FHP being dismantled and Sheriff’s performing traffic enforcement

Department leadership is working with the Legislature to discuss the impact of each option. I will continue to keep you apprised of issues that affect you.

- Julie

[The Nitely Blog]

This is why the Sheriff's from all 67 counties need to man up and stand up for themselves and their people. Sadly, I feel that most of the Sheriff's, including ours, even though they are elected officials will puss out and bow dow down to whatever the Governor and budget gods recommend. I am a republican but the republican party is loosing it's common sence. What we need is another Ronald Reagan. Someone with some big balls and alot of common sence. Unfortunately our county and state are lacking any eleccted officials with either.

[Average Joe]

This has been going on for a year now.

From what I have heard there is a very good chance that FHP, Marine & Wildlife, DOT and any other law enforcement branch under the state could very well end up under FDLE and ran as divisions. Thus we would have a true state police force through consolidation.

The juggling of state agencies from one department to another doesn't really represent any opportunities for significant savings. Everyone is still paid out of the state purse.

The idea that saves money is dismantling FHP and leaving traffic enforcement to the Sheriffs.

The Sheriff's won't want it. First of all, aggressive traffic enforcement is not popular and the Sheriff's need to get re-elected. Second, they would have to add more deputies since they wouldn't have sufficient personnel to take on the added duties and budgets are too tight to do this.

It is significant that they won't want it because the Florida Sheriff's Association is a powerful political block which has influenced the laws passed by the state legislature for years. That's why we don't have a true State Police and FDLE is only a plainclothes investigative agency.

That is not to say that any of the listed options are off the table.

Lunacy abounds.

:cop: :cop: :cop:

What is the "Florida Highway Patrol"? Does anybody know if this agency exists in Hillsborough County? Very confusing, since all along I always thought that the ONLY State law enforcement agency in or around Hillsborough County was named the "Were 10-6 with A Unknown 10-52". Oh well, learn something new every day.

What is the "Florida Highway Patrol"? Does anybody know if this agency exists in Hillsborough County? Very confusing, since all along I always thought that the ONLY State law enforcement agency in or around Hillsborough County was named the "Were 10-6 with A Unknown 10-52". Oh well, learn something new every day.

That is because hcso is a full service agency, thus, includes crashes. Other counties that do not work crashes, ever, leave it to fhp. So those particular counties need more troopers.

What is the "Florida Highway Patrol"? Does anybody know if this agency exists in Hillsborough County? Very confusing, since all along I always thought that the ONLY State law enforcement agency in or around Hillsborough County was named the "Were 10-6 with A Unknown 10-52". Oh well, learn something new every day.

That is because hcso is a full service agency, thus, includes crashes. Other counties that do not work crashes, ever, leave it to fhp. So those particular counties need more troopers.

FHP does work crashes in our county, only on state, us, and interstate highways though. I know a few of the FHP guys and the ones in our county seem like a good bunch with of course the occasional lazy a$$ but every agency has that. From what I hear the idea to disband FHP always gets tossed around by the state and it constantly gets rejected as FHP is that state's largest uniform law enforcement presence and the state will not give that up, nor should they. Either way we are all brothers and sisters doing the same job and I hope this works out for them. Hopefully we (law enforcement) will all come out of these times OK.

I work in Pinellas and FHP refuses to work so many of their crashes that we now have a call code for it in CAD - SIG 4 FHP REFUSED. Why have them if they obviously aren't essential? I get tired of their dispatch advising us they only have 1 trooper county wide and they cannot handle their responsibilities. Take your calls or get dismantled.

I work in Pinellas and FHP refuses to work so many of their crashes that we now have a call code for it in CAD - SIG 4 FHP REFUSED. Why have them if they obviously aren't essential? I get tired of their dispatch advising us they only have 1 trooper county wide and they cannot handle their responsibilities. Take your calls or get dismantled.

Very true. Nothing against the few good ones that work Hillsborough County, but it's basically like the mother of all bad zone deputies, where the deputy continually slimes all his squadmates and is always too busy to work any calls in his zone. Only this situation with FHP is even worse. They rarely work any crashes, thus resulting in at least one deputy tied up on it, depending on the severity. Then later in the shift they call HCSO and ask for a backup for a trooper on a traffic stop. Telling dispatch that he is the only trooper working in Hillsborough County at the time? Please tell me what good 1 or 2 FHP troopers are in a area this large? Either assign more troopers to this area or disband the local FHP Troop Office. This way HCSO can budget for this and hire additional deputies to cover working all crashes on state roads, not just the 50% that we end up working now anyway. Having only 1 or 2 troopers working this entire area is horrible mismanagement by FHP directors. Maybe in some Northen Florida Countie they are needed and actually productive, but here in Hilsborough they have become more of a nuisance then their worth. Not to mention also, that we usually get stuck having to direct traffic for them while there 1 unit investigates the crash.

I work in Pinellas and FHP refuses to work so many of their crashes that we now have a call code for it in CAD - SIG 4 FHP REFUSED. Why have them if they obviously aren't essential? I get tired of their dispatch advising us they only have 1 trooper county wide and they cannot handle their responsibilities. Take your calls or get dismantled.