INSIDE the Lakeland Police Department

May 15 is National Peace Officers Memorial Day

Chief of Police Roger Boatner sent the following message internally today to the members of the Lakeland Police Department. I wanted to share it with the community as well.

181 Officers Made THE Ultimate Sacrifice in 2007

President John F. Kennedy signed Public Law 87-726 on October 1, 1962, making May 15 "National Peace Officers Memorial Day", and the week containing May 15 as "National Police Week." It was not until May 15, 1982, that the first National Peace Officers' Memorial Day Service was held. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush dedicated the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. This beautiful memorial permanently records and commemorates the service and ultimate sacrifice of America's law enforcement officers.

Today the names of 181 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty will be dedicated on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Memorial in Washington, D.C. The National Police Memorial now has 18,274 names engraved on the Memorial, representing officers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and federal law enforcement and military police agencies. Florida will be adding 16 names to the Memorial this year.

On this special day and every other day I urge each of you to remember officer safety. Stay alert to those members of society who wish to do you harm.

My prayer each and every day is that the Lakeland Police Department will never have another name engraved on the Memorial. I want to thank you for all you do on a daily basis to support our department and our community -- you are greatly appreciated.

- Chief of Police Roger Boatner

Polk County Sheriff's Office Awards Ceremony: Above and Beyond

I want to take a moment and commend the members of the Polk County Sheriff's Office and Sheriff Grady Judd for their 2007 Annual Awards Ceremony Tuesday evening in Winter Haven. "Above and Beyond" was the theme for the evening's ceremony that featured posthumous honors to Deputy Sheriff Matt Williams and his K-9 partner DiOiGi, as well recognition to other agency members for their exceptional acts of heroism, courage, bravery, and commitment to serving the citizens of Polk County.

On behalf of the members of the Lakeland Police Department, we appreciate Sheriff Judd awarding PCSO Medals of Valor to LPD Sergeant Jeff Birdwell and Officer Jose Bosque for their bravery in the line fire when they exchanged gunfire with the armed suspect who shot Deputy Williams and DiOiGi last September. The camaraderie across agency lines is more than symbolic; it clearly represents the utmost in professionalism and the teamwork that is the foundation of our relationship.

That statement holds true for all of the local, county, state, and federal agencies that serve the citizens of Polk County. I have had the occasion to see numerous police departments not be able to work together. We are fortunate to have such a strong partnership with our fellow officers at PCSO.

It is fitting to remember that partnership is not just for our benefit; rather, it is because all of us can serve our communities at a higher level when we all work together for a common good.

Congratulations again to Sheriff Judd and the members of the Polk County Sheriff's Office. We thank you for the invitation to participate in your awards ceremony.

-Chief of Police Roger Boatner

One Week and Growing Daily

Our new blog - InsideLakelandPD.org - is officially one week old today. Last week was spent learning about the technology used to publish a blog and modifying layout features to give a pleasing appearance to our readers. We know we have a long way to go in mastering the inside tips and techniques of blogging, and we look forward to your comments about what you want to learn more about behind the scenes at Lakeland PD.

At this point we would like to give a word of thanks to WTVT - Fox 13 and our Polk County reporter, Ken Suarez for their feature story last Friday on our new blog Billy Townsend over at TBO.com mentioned us in his online blog for Polk County.  And most recently, Barry Friedman,referred to us on Saturday as at least the second local institution to use blogs as a way to get information out to the public and solicit feedback from our citizenry.  Thanks to everyone for mentioning us and welcoming us to the world of blogs.

This will be a fairly active week at Lakeland PD as we host the quarterly "Do The Right Thing" awards for local students on Wednesday, unveil a new bus for Lakeland PAL Thursday morning, and hold our annual awards ceremony for our members Thursday evening. We will be sure to keep you posted here with what is going on behind the scenes, and as always, we welcome your comments or questions.

Bill LePere

Assistant Chief of Police

Intro to Inside the Lakeland Police Department

Welcome to the launch of InsideLakelandPD - our journey into the world of web logs, and your gateway into the Lakeland Police Department.

The obvious question to ask at this point is - why would a police department host a blog?

The answer is quite simple. Our community policing philosophy is committed to an open and transparent relationship with our community. We believe in the notion that we are the community's police department, and as such we remain open to the public so that you may learn more about what we do. Capturing the technology of the Internet and blogging is an innovative way for us to maintain open lines of communication with our customers.

We have been planning this blog for several months, conducting research into how other police agencies use blogging, and exploring how this mode of communication can enhance our relationship with the community. Our research suggests that blogging is relatively new to the world of policing with few agencies using this technology today. More importantly, we found our customers to be genuinely interested in what goes on at LPD, what we are doing to reduce crime and disorder, how we strive to reduce fear - and people truly want to see our members as real people.

What happens behind the scenes at the Lakeland Police Department and the people who make our agency successful are interesting stories but not always newsworthy. We enjoy a positive relationship with all of our local media, but we do not rely on the electronic or print media to tell our complete story. This is where our blog becomes a gateway - your gateway - into Lakeland PD.

Our goal is to share a glimpse behind the scenes and let you know what is going on at your police department. The blog will be a forum for us to release news stories, highlight crime prevention tips, educate the public on crime trends and important safety information, introduce you to members of our organization, and in general keep the public informed on your police department. In doing so, we will be open to comments, feedback, and criticism. Comments and feedback to the blog will be moderated to avoid profane, vulgar, or slanderous material from being posted, but we remain open to suggestions from the public that will help shape the level and quality of service we provide each and every day.

As the Chief of Police, I am extremely proud of the dedication and professionalism our members bring to our organization on a daily basis. They are the heroes of our community and deserve some positive recognition. I thank them for their commitment to Lakeland, and I trust you share this sentiment. We hope you get to learn more about them and their efforts through this forum.

Welcome to InsideLakelandPD.

Roger Boatner

Chief of Police