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Officer Mark Deasaro compares the St. Petersburg Police Department to a bucket with a large hole in the bottom. Every month, Chief Charles "Chuck" Harmon pours more officers into that bucket, and every month, just as many (or more) flow back out the bottom.
"We are losing police officers at an alarming rate," he says, looking gravely serious in the Police Benevolent Association's Clearwater office. "You can pour all sorts of new officers into the bucket, but it's never going to fill."
It's an apt analogy to describe the department, which has lost 165 officers since 2003 while hiring only 151. Police records show there are 38 vacancies in a department authorized to field 540 officers. And even that number counts dozens of police in either pre- or post-academy training who cannot patrol the city's streets alone.
The coming months don't look any better: A large pool of officers hired during an early-'80s boom period will retire in the next few years, draining the department of much-needed experience.
"You can't tell me with the number of condos going in downtown, that the infrastructure does not have to be there," says Deasaro, who represents 1,200 officers as the PBA union president. "The first thing people want is to be safe."
It's not an issue unique to St. Petersburg -- thinning police forces are a problem in most growing cities across the country. But some police officers and neighborhood leaders say the difference in St. Pete lies in the way the police department is losing its younger recruits, usually after three to five years in the department.
"We don't have people coming from Tampa or leaving the [Pinellas County] Sheriff's Office to come here," Deasaro says. "We have people from St. Pete leaving to go there."
Deasaro and other police officers cite three reasons for the exodus: rising housing costs, restrictive policies like the no-chase rule and an unsupportive culture inside the department. The high turnover, he says, just adds to the plummeting morale, and further hurts crime-fighting efforts.
"No police officer is going to tell you that crime is under control," he says. "If we had all the police officers needed, we could proactively go and stop things that happen."
The police shortage might have remained an issue just between Chief Harmon and union officials, if not for the increasingly vocal neighborhood groups who say the lack of officers on the city's streets is resulting in a diminished presence in neighborhoods, emboldening criminals. For neighborhood leaders who march through the streets chanting anti-drug slogans at suspected drug houses, the lack of police support is disheartening, if not dangerous.
"The police don't have your back when they retaliate against you," says Matthew Culp, whose home was firebombed in May after 18 months of harassment by area drug dealers. "Everything we've heard is what can't be done."
Central Oak Park Neighborhood Association Past-President Dan Spice agrees.
"I think St. Pete citizens have gone well above the expected line to make sure we do our part to make the city safe," he says. "We ask the mayor and chief to do the same thing."
Sergeant Phil Quandt, who represents the local Fraternal Order of Police chapter, sympathizes with residents.
"They did everything we told them to," he says. "We understand their frustration ... it's becoming a real safety issue."
Instead of addressing the problem, he says, Chief Harmon is too busy quelling dissent in the department.
"How do you help someone if they look at you and say, 'There's no problem, there's no problem,'?" he says.
Chief Harmon refused an interview for this story, but spokesman William Profitt defended the chief's staffing levels and policies as "adequate."
Profitt says the department's authorized strength is reviewed regularly based on number of calls, response times and other hard data.
"As long as I've been here I've heard people complain, but it's not really justified," he says. "I don't think it's our policies chasing anybody away. Quite honestly, I think it's some of the officers in the department who want to complain that is influencing some of the people who come on, telling them the grass is greener."
As for the neighborhoods, Profitt gives the same refrain.
"If the neighborhoods had their way, they'd have an officer on every corner, every hour of the day," he says. "And that's simply not real. No city can do that."
Profitt says he sympathizes with the neighborhood leaders, but their perceptions run contrary to the facts: Crime is down for the second year in a row. Drug arrests are up 10 percent in the city, along with prostitution and traffic citations, three areas frequently cited by citizens.
"If I was in that situation, maybe I'd blur that reality, too," he says of the neighborhood leaders, like Culp, who feel their homes are under siege. "I'm not saying they're lying. I certainly believe in the adage, perception is reality."
But perception matters. The city may be rebounding by every economic and social indicator, and crime, overall, may be down, but those statistics might not matter if citizens don't feel safe enough to leave their homes.
"Why don't you do a poll of residents and ask if they feel safer?" Quandt suggests. "Do they feel safer in St. Pete now than they did last year?
"Because if it isn't safe, all the Sweetbays in the world is not going to change it."
COMMENTS
RE: Only As Safe As You Feel
Posted by dacman72 on 09.11.09 @ 05:19 AM
What's the common denominator? How to keep the blacks under control. The problem is one of racial politics: Rick Baker is Goliath Davis' (and the Uhurus') bitch and needs to go.
RE: Only As Safe As You Feel
Posted by unsafestpete on 09.01.06 @ 01:27 PM
For the GOP convention and other groups considering meeting in the Tampa Bay area, they should know that Saint Petersburg is no longer a “Safe City” and Mayor Rick Baker and Police Chief Harmon choose to ignore resident and visitor safety and security. ST. PETERSBURG - Late Saturday night, 18 vehicles were broken into in Venetian Isles. Across town on Sunday afternoon, four cars were burglarized in broad daylight while parishioners worshiped at St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church on 37th Street S. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/16/Neighborhoodtimes/Police__Car_burglars_.shtml The most audacious crime occurred on May 21 when drug dealers tried to firebomb two Palmetto Park crime watch members. Three men are accused of being involved in the plot, in which two drug dealers paid five pieces of crack cocaine to a third man to throw Molotov cocktails at the two houses. The bombs didn't explode and only minimal damage was done. The drug dealers, according to arrest affidavits, thought the crime watch members had become too "nosey." http://www.weeklyplanet.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A92142 “The Fraternal Order of Police stands by its contention that the St. Petersburg Police Department is severely understaffed to the detriment of both its members and the citizens they serve.” Phillip D. Quandt Jr. and Karl Lounge, Fraternal Order of Police representatives, Pinellas Lodge No. 43, St. Petersburg. http://www.sptimes.com/2006/08/16/Neighborhoodtimes/Numbers_show_more_pol.shtml MAN DOWN: "I'm not looking to blame someone for doing something wrong," St. Pete Police Officer Mark Deasaro says of staffing shortages. "Let's just fix it.” Officer Mark Deasaro compares the St. Petersburg Police Department to a bucket with a large hole in the bottom. Every month, Chief Charles "Chuck" Harmon pours more officers into that bucket, and every month, just as many (or more) flow back out the bottom. "We are losing police officers at an alarming rate," he says, looking gravely serious in the Police Benevolent Association's Clearwater office. "You can pour all sorts of new officers into the bucket, but it's never going to fill." http://www.leoaffairs.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4665 "We don't have an adequate number of officers," said Mark Deasaro, a St. Petersburg police officer and president of the Police Benevolent Association of Pinellas County. "If you have several situations going on at once, one event of substance will drain the entire work force for that day." http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/sptimes/access/1064803871.html?dids=1064803871:1064803871&FMT=FT&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Jun+18%2C+2006&author=ABHI+RAGHUNATHAN&pub=St.+Petersburg+Times&edition=&startpage=1.B&desc=Enough+police+for+city%3F Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and her Chief of Police Stephen Hogue have cleaned up her city with unprecedented speed. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that Mayor Iorio and Chief Hogue can and will protect the RNC and it’s delegates. Clearwater and Clearwater Beach are safe due to the unwavering commitment made by Mayor Frank Hibbard and Chief of Police Sid Klein for safe streets. What concerns Saint Petersburg residents is that Grandmothers and Grandfathers, Mom’s and Dad’s, Brothers and Sisters will be attending the Republican National Convention and placing themselves in “eminent” danger if they come to St. Petersburg. The “riot” at the Gibbs High School football game on 8-26-2006 is just another example of why Saint Petersburg is “Unsafe at anytime day or night”. Saint Petersburg “National Distinction” of the “Second Angriest City in America” is no surprise to anyone that lives here or has visited recently. http://cityguide.aol.com/tampabay/angriest-cities-in-america-tam/main.adp Some other unfortunate incidents that have taken place recently in Saint Petersburg. http://www.channel10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=29909 More reaction from the citizens of Saint Petersburg. http://dbpltx.blogspot.com/2006/08/st-pete-police-cluster-phucked.html August 6, 2006: Bay News 9 Sunday “Soap Box” As citizens of St. Petersburg, the Fourth largest city in Florida, we should feel safe in our homes and property. As citizens, we want be proud of the growth and accomplishments that our city has seen over the last few years. As citizens, we expect that basic services, paid for by our tax dollars, should match our city's status. This is very hard to do when we have had St. Pete homes fire bombed in May of this year. It is even harder to proud of the ongoing open air drug sales and prostitution that plague our city. It's sickening to see the many drug houses still in operation across our city. As taxpaying citizens we are not receiving VALUE for the taxes we pay. This is never more evident than in the situations that I have just mentioned. We have been told time and again by The Mayor and Chief Harmon that we are having growing pains, and that nothing can or is going to be done. Although some crime could be attributed to “growing pains,” we should ask ourselves: Is it acceptable for Mayor Baker and Chief Harmon to simply sit back and take NO ACTION? Our city is growing in population, geographic size, and in the number of visitors. Our police department isn't. Our Police Department is BLEEDING street level officers at an unprecedented rate. Our Street level Police officers and Firefighters are both well below nationally recognized levels of staffing. Chief Harmon is not able to fill these vacancies, yet he fails to make use of the PASS System used by all other area police agencies to generate more applicants. And the staffing problem is growing worse by the week. Our sources have confirmed that ten police officers left the force in June 2006 and three more have already left at the start of July. This brings the number of departures to 40 in 2006 and more departures are coming. Does this make us safe? Does this make us secure? Our best, brightest, and hardest-working street level police officers and firemen are jumping ship, and not just for salary. They, too, want safety and security...better working conditions that allow them to do the job they are charged with...to “Protect and Serve” every law abiding citizen. City after city has proven the value of the “Broken window approach," most notably New York City and Tampa. This approach is “Fix a problem while it is small and it will not FESTER into a bigger one.” New York City and Tampa have become safer and more livable using this approach. So have smaller cities like Chattanooga and Charleston. Chief Harmon ignores this approach, leaving neighborhoods and citizens to be held hostage by drug houses, prostitutes, car theft gangs and related crime. And worse yet, visitors to our city are left holding the bills of hit and runs that cannot be responded to by our understaffed street level police officers. Chief Harmon has stated that he will not be "forced" or "blackmailed" into action by citizens groups. Has he forgotten who he works for? Has he forgotten his job is public safety? Chief Harmon uses partial year statistics to show a marginal crime reduction, but the number of murders in 2005 was 30, up from 19 in 2004, this makes St. Petersburg the Murder Capital of Pinellas County. Do you feel safe knowing that as many murders occur in St. Petersburg as in the rest of Pinellas County combined? Is this acceptable? The answer is clearly...NO. Chief Harmon has been advised by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, FDLE via Governor Bush’s office to “respond with necessary action.” Yet the problems continue and the personnel losses are mounting. St. Petersburg is a beautiful city, and we citizens deserve the best, including the BEST VALUE for our tax dollars. We could be the next “Americas Most Livable City," but this is not going to happen until crimes such as murder, fire bombings, drive by shootings, prostitution and open air drug sales are stopped, and drug houses are shut down. Auto theft gangs and persons should be pursued, arrested and jailed. Every St. Petersburg citizen deserves adequate police and fire protection, regardless of their address. We must move past the Band-Aid reactive approaches that have not worked in the past and are not working now. We need real leadership, fighting crime on a proactive basis that will allow citizens to be safe and secure in their homes, cars and places of work again. It is not acceptable that a 911 call goes to voice mail. It is never acceptable for St. Petersburg's administration and Chief Harmon to tell its citizens that there is nothing they are going to do about the level of crime we are experiencing. And the recent departures in the 911 call center is a clear indication that Mayor Baker and Chief Harmon puts our safety and security dead last on their priority list. I urge you to call the Mayor and your City Council member and insist that we get the VALUE of our tax dollars. Demand full staffing for your own protection. Attend budget hearings and make your voice heard. Public safety is the basic of city services, and the most important. In light of recent International events and living in a post 9-11 world, and our proximity to CENTCOM, should we not ask ourselves, “Are we were we need to be when it comes to our safety and security?” The City of St. Petersburg and it's citizens are WORLD players and our city administration and Chief Harmon must step up to the plate and start hitting home runs instead of being struck out at every turn at bat. If Chief Harmon is unable to hit a home run, then a home run HITTER needs to be found
RE: Only As Safe As You Feel
Posted by Tom on 08.30.06 @ 12:40 AM
The incumbent county commission members are also responsible for this surge in crime and violence. They could send deputies to St. Pete to help our overworked officers. Southside and 34th Street drug holes spread addiction throughout the county. A rubber stamp city councilman is on the ballot for state rep.