Pinellas sheriff fires 4, suspends 2 for loafing on the job

South Fla · 05-02-2012, 02:45

***Cochese*** · 05-02-2012, 02:59

Damn. Sounds like a few of our guys. Don't get me wrong, when it is uber dead on graves, we will door up sometimes, but more often than not, we will go on foot patrols etc. to pass the time. Watching movies on an MDT or whatever is okay for OT events where you are basically a set of overheads on the highway, but not on the street.

Too easy to get snuck up on.

IMO.

merlynusn · 05-02-2012, 05:13

There is nothing wrong with parking door to door. Many times if I've been running hard for 5-6 hours, I would like nothing more than to take a break and park door to door while waiting for the next call. It could be 10 minutes or it could be an hour or so. If it's an hour, so what, it could just as easily been 10 minutes.

Now, I agree with Cochese, watching movies on duty, shopping, going home (for more than a quick trip to bathroom) I don't agree with.

ray9898 · 05-02-2012, 07:52

They knew they were wrong if some disconnected their GPS transmitters.

I guess this agency does not have daily activity sheets where you log calls, traffic stop and areas of patrol throughout the shift? No way I could sit idle for 'hours' and it not immediately be noticed by supervisors.

***jpa*** · 05-02-2012, 08:01

What happened to progressive discipline? If this was a problem, why was it allowed to continue for so long before the Sheriff decided to just up and fire a bunch of officers? If you want to talk about doing a disservice to the community and wasting taxpayer money, how does it save money to discard several trained and experienced officers and create vacancies that will probably have to be filled with overtime? Warn them, write them up, suspend them and if after all that's been done and the pattern still continues, THEN fire them.

ray9898 · 05-02-2012, 08:13

Holy crap....in 5 weeks one officer did 12 stops, 11 reports and two FI's. Either it is Mayberry, they are dramatically overstaffed or he is a lazy POS. That is 2 or 3 shifts of work in every agency I have experience with.

rockapede · 05-02-2012, 08:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by ray9898

Holy crap....in 5 weeks one officer did 12 stops, 11 reports and two FI's. Either it is Mayberry, they are dramatically overstaffed or he is a lazy POS. That is 2 or 3 shifts of work in every agency I have experience with.

I'm not saying that's ok for 5 weeks worth of time, because it's not. However, 11 reports in two days would be extremely rare for me and pretty much every other rural officer I know on midnights. Traffic and FIs? Sure. That's when I get the most done, because I'm not spending time responding to and taking paper on BS.

valvestem · 05-02-2012, 08:50

I was not there so I can't say what they did was bad enough to fire them. But I do know if I worked a busy car when I was a LEO, I could expect about 40 calls for service on a Friday/Saturday night. If I worked an area not so busy with calls for service, I was expected to make stops, etc., and keep busy with documentable stuff.

blueiron · 05-02-2012, 13:16

I have no idea if civil service or similar protections exist for these SO employees, nor do I know their disciplinary histories.

However, an intentionally disconnected GPS = demonstrable intent to avoid accountability and responsibility in my world. Any employee that does this should face serious sanction[s]. It is all too easy to forget to reconnect it and if another shift gets in that unit and is involved in an instantaneous deadly force incident, the deputy that disconnected it may very well have responsibility in a fellow deputy's injury or death.

We all know certain "weak siblings" who go to certain shifts to avoid work and get their "welfare check".

South Fla · 05-02-2012, 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by ray9898

Holy crap....in 5 weeks one officer did 12 stops, 11 reports and two FI's. Either it is Mayberry, they are dramatically overstaffed or he is a lazy POS.

No, Pinellas Co. isn't Mayberry. They do call it "God's Waiting Room" but not Mayberry. Pinellas Co. is where Clearwater and St. Petersburg are.

South Fla · 05-02-2012, 13:35

More with video and talking about it being a "political witch hunt" due to the deputies supporting the current Sheriff's opponent.

The current Sheriff's opponent is a former Sheriff of Pinellas Co., Everett Rice.

IGotIt · 05-02-2012, 15:00

I wonder if there were any warnings, written documentation, or previous disciplinary actions against any of the discharged?

trdvet · 05-02-2012, 15:03

Time for them to become firefighters, though they would need to tone down the productivity.

glock_collector · 05-02-2012, 16:44

Did anyone think the firings were due to the officers gett'in all the good donuts before the sheriff?

scottydl · 05-02-2012, 22:44

Gee, I've never heard a donut joke before.

Ha.

Ha.

Does seem weird that they were just all spontaneously fired... but that's probably not what really happened. There is likely a backstory not reported in the press version of events.

Our MDC's have no CD/DVD drives, will not connect to any "regular" internet sites unless pre-approved, and GPS is attached to the CAD program (i.e. it's on if you are logged in). Takes away a lot of the wiggle room for us.

Ohio Copper · 05-02-2012, 23:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by glock_collector

Did anyone think the firings were due to the officers gett'in all the good donuts before the sheriff?

Did you think that up all by yourself?

***TBO*** · 05-02-2012, 23:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ohio Copper

Did you think that up all by yourself?

Hey, that guy is smart, very smart, he has an IQ!

Ohio Copper · 05-02-2012, 23:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by TBO

Hey, that guy is smart, very smart, he has an IQ!

So does my dog....

DaBigBR · 05-03-2012, 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottydl

...GPS is attached to the CAD program (i.e. it's on if you are logged in)...

As is ours.

Unless somebody unplugs the GPS itself.

South Fla · 05-03-2012, 01:55

Now there is a story....

...where they were supposed to get 5 days off instead of getting canned.

But the Sheriff decided to fire them any way.

merlynusn · 05-03-2012, 04:32

How do you go from 5 days to being fired?

South Fla · 05-03-2012, 11:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by merlynusn

How do you go from 5 days to being fired?

a. The Sheriff can do what he wants.
b. The deputies were backing the current Sheriff's opponent (an ex-Sheriff).
c. It is an election year.

John Rambo · 05-03-2012, 13:05

Pinellas county and the associated city PDs never cease to entertain. They're like a black eye on the face of law enforcement. It was just a few years back that they decided the city PDs were so ineffecient and costly, the county PD said they were ready to absorb them.

They might not be Nawleans police, but they're not too far off. How is it that the crappiest areas always seem to get the crappiest cops?

Mayhem like Me · 05-03-2012, 13:14

They have civil service protection, the fat lady has not sung.

They however seem like no good turds and the kind of guys I woudl steer clear of.

South Fla · 05-03-2012, 13:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Rambo

They might not be Nawleans police, but they're not too far off. How is it that the crappiest areas always seem to get the crappiest cops?

There are many, many fine law enforcement officers in the Tampa Bay area.

Just the troublemakers are the ones you hear about.