LET EM' GO !

To Polk Deputy:

With all due respect HOW do you guys stand working for that agency??? HOW do you cope knowing that the city does not have your back and that because of their attitudes your city now has a terrible reputation and image with NIGHTLY murders all over the news? HOW do you deal with the "Yoohoos"? A St Pete cop once told me that if someone spits on him he has to say "thank you, sir, may I have another?" God, get out and let them have the stinking cess pool of a place!

An excellent St. Pete Officer once told me when I was new:

"There are two reasons you would stay at St. Pete; You're stupid or you're stuck (unfortunately for him, he's stuck). I never really believed him because St. Pete has not treated me with anything but open arms, and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. But due to recent events, my eyes are wide open. Now being a family man, I am not willing to take the chance of being screwed over by this place like officers in recent events, and losing everything I've worked for because of some yahoo's. I want to work for a department who will have their officers backs and not allow the ignorant to run the city. I have one foot out of the door, and I know several of my fellow officers/friends see the same. As for the officers who choose to stay, remember what was once told to me, and take it to heart.

Always remember that, at SPPD, hard work and staying out of the politics will get you screwed. This department doesn't care about how many criminals you arrest. They only care about how the criminals perceive the city and the department. As a female major has said (loudly) in the D-2 office: "It's all about the numbers, people." And she wasn't talking about stats. She is all about how the citizens of St Pete perceive the crime rate in the city. For a city of 250,000 plus people, there never seems to be much St Pete crime being reported in the St Pete Slimes. We wouldn't want the people to question what's going on in this department, now would we?

Find an agency that respects officers that actually work hard at putting the criminals away, and run to them as fast as you can!

You may have statutory immunity, but how will you feel when the burglar you're chasing runs over a woman who's out for a morning jog, or crashes into and kills a young father delivering newspapers to earn some extra money to make ends meet? Will you say, "oh well, at least we caught the burglar"? No, you'll wish you'd decided not to chase. Take it from somebody who's been there.

The policy is there for a reason. It's just not worth it because, unlike in Polk and Hillsborough, crashes are just way too likely in densely-populated Pinellas County.

You can "what if" this and any other part of the job we do. The reality is, crashes during pursuits do happen, but considering the number of pursuits, the significant injury rates are fairly low. And please don't give me the "what if that one is your family member" crap. Yes it's possible, but there are more likely causes of death out there that I concern myself with.

I worked at SPPD for almost 6 years, and now I work for an agency (Martin County) that not only authorizes pursuits, we encourage other agencies around us to chase them to us. And, we have no reservations about shooting at you while chasing you (if the circumstances dictate). And we teach every deputy the PIT procedure so we can end the pursuit as quickly and safely as possible. With an average of 2-4 pursuits per month, we rarely have injuries to anyone other than the bad guy(s). Not to mention the fact, and this is probably the biggest side effect of our policy, this policy has been in place for a long time, and the criminal element knows it. The ones who usually run are the "out-of-town visitors" who find out quickly what our policy is.

If you train the officers and give them the proper tools, the job (pursuits) can be done safely for themselves and the public, with no legal repurcussions (as stated above).

Either way, be safe....

'blood

lets be fair here, even if they had been allowed to chase the suspects and they bailed from the car they wouldn't have caught them anyway, there is not one person on that midnight bravo squad that could run 15feet they are all old, fat, sloppy and out of shape

lets be fair here, even if they had been allowed to chase the suspects and they bailed from the car they wouldn't have caught them anyway, there is not one person on that midnight bravo squad that could run 15feet they are all old, fat, sloppy and out of shape

Although you might be right young pup the key is to get them in the first 15 feet or stay in your cruiser until they get tired. We also use a concept that you rookies seem to have trouble mastering.....setting a perimeter and waiting for a K9. You'll learn the tricks someday.

2mg2yhOh really. This is the stuff that makes me sick about this department. Have you looked at the squad thru and thru? I admit I am the farthest thing from the "poster boy" for anorexia, but at my age I am still active in sports, and might surprise you on a sprint even on a bad knee (ask Phifer about food max). Stu...he just ran his 79th MARATHON at Pikes Peek...in a blizzard!. One day you'll wake up in middle age, and wonder what happened to your superman powers as well. I could go on, but whats the point. Obviously you have your mind made up about a group and know all there is to know about police work.

That being said, would you go through a door with us? Would you trust your life to our back up abilities? We are not perfect by any means, but by God neither are you. Care to take it up with me, feel free as I have not hidden my identity. As for the reason for this string in the first place, I think it has spoken for itself. But as usual, someone has to make this a personal attack, against an entire squad this time. Sure makes me proud of what this department has become.

If the sh!t hit the fan I don't know who I'd rather have on my side then the D2 Bravos ! You can bet your life somethings going to get done and they don't have to call their sergeant for permission he's standing right beside them.

Good point 143b. The previous post just shows you how low this department has gone.