INSIDE the Lakeland Police Department

It's Not Us In The News

While continuing my rehab this morning and checking my Google news alerts, I came across several items listing "Lakeland Police Officer Arrested on Drug Charges." To say the least, I jumped out of my chair with the news as this was nothing I had heard about around the station.

Reading deeper into the stories revealed the officer was with the Lakeland Georgia Police Department and NOT us. Whew... hope my blood pressure returns to normal now.

It's never good to read of such news regardless of the agency, but if you happen to catch some headlines on this bit of information, please understand it's not us making the news.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Lakeland Police Internal Affairs Files: A Matter of Public Record

An article appeared in this morning's edition of The Ledger that featured "news" of a police officer who resigned back in December 2007 during an internal affairs investigation. While the facts of the story are nearly four months old, I felt it was important to let people understand how internal affairs files are a matter of public record.

Every couple of months we get a public records request from The Ledger asking to read our closed internal affairs reports. Under Florida's broad public records law, these reports are deemed to be a public record and available for inspection by anyone who asks to read them. There are a few exceptions to some of the information contained therein, but for the most part anyone can read a file at anytime. Active internal affairs investigations are not open to public inspection; they must be closed to become a public record.

The Florida Police Officers Bill of Rights found in F/S 112.531-535 in the relevant law here.

While it is not our practice to distribute media releases when an officer resigns under these types of circumstances, we remain transparent and open to anyone who seeks such information. In other words, we are not hiding anything here. The four month delay in publishing this story is not the result of the police department stashing away this information only to be suddenly "uncovered" by a reporter. Rather, the delay is due to when local reporters make their requests for public records, the parameters of such requests, and when editors decide to run the story.

We remain committed to a fair and objective internal affairs process that seeks to investigate all citizen complaints of officer misconduct. Our investigative reports stand on their own merit, and we will render findings based on the facts, witness testimony, and physical evidence. These reports remain available for public inspection by anyone under Florida law.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Lakeland Police Blog: The "On Medical Leave" Edition

Our blog postings have been rather slim the last few weeks, with the bulk of posts being limited to our weekly crime reports. That is because I am on medical leave for the next six weeks following hip surgery last Monday. (All went well, and I am well on the road to recovery - thank you.)

Since we try to keep the INSIDE blog more personal in voice and nature, I have not designated a replacement "blogmaster" to fill in during my absence. Sgt. Terri Smith, supervisor of the Crime Analysis Unit, has maintained the posts of crime reports and crime maps for us, as well the LPD Media Center where media releases and breaking news are posted. It is time for a return of fresh material to INSIDE.

I am at a point now where I can resume daily postings of commentary, observations, and insightful information about what is going on around LPD. Believe me, it feels so good to be at this stage of recovery.

So as I begin to assemble the various posts that will be uploaded this week and the following weeks, you now know why you see a sudden flurry of activity after several weeks of limited action.

My hip is not yet ready for street duty, but my talented surgeon left my typing fingers intact while he was giving me a new hip... I am most grateful for all that he did for me.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Observations from the City Commission's Retreat

I had the opportunity to observe the two-day strategic planning retreat of the Lakeland City Commission and see first hand their discussions regarding critical issues that face our community. Some of the topics did not have a direct impact on the police department, but there were several issues which will effect our budget and operations in the next fiscal year.

Budget Shortfall

The impact of property tax reform under Amendment 1 and less-than-projected revenues from sales tax and communications taxes are expected to create a $4 million deficit in the General Fund in FY09. That has a direct bearing on our budget as public safety (police and fire) make up just over half of the entire $94 million General Fund. If you do the math quickly, that may become as much as a $1 to $1.5 million reduction to the police budget. We already made what we deemed to be significant budget reductions with the initial round of property tax reform, so this makes a looming second round of cuts all that less appealing.

Homeless Population

The City Commission engaged in some much needed serious dialogue about the problems facing our entire community when it comes to how we deal with the homeless. Chief Boatner participated in a panel discussion on a variety of quality of life issues, but homelessness was one of the primary concerns being addressed. The Chief gave a broad overview of the social problems related to the homeless.

The issue comes down to what our community wants to adopt as a public policy regarding how we treat the homeless -- with the critical point here being the importance to distinguish between our local residents who find themselves without a home versus the transients who come to Lakeland from all over the country to seek a free handout. The need to assist those who, due to unfortunate circumstances, find themselves on the streets is often times ignored because our compassionate assistance is being diverted to those who choose to be homeless but nonetheless scam the system for handouts. The overflow of transients (not our local homeless) affects the entire community when providers cannot meet the demand for services.

We need a community-wide discussion with all stakeholders to determine just how much assistance we will give the transients from all around the county who flock to town because the word on the streets is "Lakeland is the place to be." Let us attempt to focus our resources to assist our local homeless population and leave the other cities in Florida and the remaining 49 states to take care of their own homeless. There is only so much we can do.

Quality of Life

Lakeland enjoys a unique quality of life that encompasses a feel of a small town community within a large area with a growing popultion. We want to retain that small town quality of life.

Reported crime, fear of crime, traffic safety, and safe public spaces are priorities to our residents. While it rests with the police department to take the lead in respect to these problems, there are simply not enough police officers to go around and do it all. The community then becomes a critical partner in addressing the conditions which give rise to crime and help practice traffic safety on our roadways. Our challenge is to engage the community and share this responsibility -- something we like to call community policing.

Efficiency in Police Operations

It became painfully clear the probability of obtaining additional police officer positions was small entering the retreat and got a whole lot smaller once the fiscal forecast was given by Finance Director Greg Finch. This creates the need for every city department to ensure it is operating at maximum efficiency.

The Lakeland Police Department takes great pride in comparing our operations to national standards in an attempt to ensure we get the most from our resources. Benchmarking, reviewing management audits, and carefully watching our performance measures are things we are already doing to address efficiency concerns. The retreat made it painfully obvious that we will be called upon to do even more in this arena.

We look forward to these challenges and, as always, are open to your comments and concerns as well.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

 

The Value of Eyewitnesses

Successful crime fighting involves more than the police - it also must incorporate the community who is willing to get involved. Such an incident occurred over the weekend that is worth mentioning.

A witness observed a subject breaking into the Looking Good store at 702 E Memorial Blvd just a little before midnight on Friday night. The witness called the police to report the in-progress crime. We had officers in the area on patrol, so we were on scene in moments.

From that point the officers watched the suspect, Darrell Jones DOB 01/28/1980, exit the store carrying stolen clothing. We made the arrest for burglary, grand theft, and other charges following a taser deployment after the subject tried to flee. This is usually the end of the story, but it should not be in this case. Something else is worth mentioning right now.

We rely heavily on the public getting involved and calling us when they see a crime occurring. Our ability to make an arrest is much greater when we can arrive on scene while the suspect is still there. That happens when eyewitnesses refuse to look the other way, and instead decide to get involved.

We appreciate the support and involvement of our community members - thank you.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Dumb Criminal Stories Continued

Here's one story from our recent event reports that makes you wonder just how smart (or dumb) criminals can be. The story goes something like this...

Our victim discovers his vehicle was burglarized late one night while he was inside a restaurant along Hwy 98 North in Lakeland. Among the items taken in the burglary were an I-Pod, a digital camera, and a cell phone charger. The victim calls the police to report the crime, and the responding officer dutifully takes the report listing all of the stolen items.

Approximately 30 - 45 minutes later (call it around 2:00 AM), the police get a call from a clerk at a convenience store just a few blocks away from the burglary scene. The clerk tells police a subject is inside the store trying to sell an I-Pod. The same officer responds to the store and makes contact with the suspect when he notices the subject is in possession of (you got it), an I-Pod, a digital camera, and a cell phone charger. But the story gets more interesting...

The victim happens to be at the same convenience store to vacuum the broken glass from his vehicle and walks into the store where he notices the officer and the I-Pod. Our victim identifies the articles as those just stolen from his truck. The suspect gets arrested and tries to proclaim that he did not steal the items but rather somebody in the area just gave them to him.

Moral to the story - never try to pawn stolen items within blocks of the crime scene and within moments of the theft. Add to the lessons to be learned here - never try to pawn stolen items at a convenience store after you have been trespassed from the store in the first place!

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Strategic Planning

Mention "strategic planning" and most folks will respond with a yawn. It's not the most glamorous or exciting thing to do. I guess for police officers it ranks a little above getting a root canal and far below being involved in a foot chase.

However, it is absolutely essential for leaders to engage in a dynamic strategic planning process to establish their organization's direction and ensure our efforts are properly aligned toward what it is we are trying to achieve.

Chief Boatner and the three Assistant Chiefs joined with the other city department heads and their assistants today for a full day of strategic planning at the new Hilton Garden Inn at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport. Nearly 50 participants reviewed the importance of strategic planning and then revisited the City's plan to ensure our vision, mission, values, and goals were properly aligned to set a course for our entire organization. This was in preparation for the City Commission's retreat scheduled for next month.

We also addressed how we can best measure our performance to ensure we are achieving the right outcomes. You may ask why this is so important? Think of strategic planning and performance measurement like this...

How else can you know "the score" of your business if you do not plan for how you are going to win the game? It's a lot like playing a game of basketball without a game plan and never counting the points each team scored. How do you know if you won the game?

The same applies to our city government. How do we know if we are achieving our intended outcomes if we don't first know what it is we are trying to accomplish and then take the time to measure our results?

We look forward to reporting our results to the City Commission next month.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Celebrating the Dream: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

Since today was a holiday around our nation to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I felt it appropriate to pause and acknowledge the significance of this day. You may remember Dr. King as a great civil rights leader or just a Baptist minister, but we can all agree the impact of his message is still felt since his assassination in 1968. This April will mark the 40th anniversary of his death.

One of the recent movements to come from the celebration of Dr. King's birthday is the initiative to make this holiday a day of volunteerism - a day on, not a day off.

Regardless of whether you volunteered in your community today or simply paused to reflect on Dr. King's message, we trust you took some time to remember the important message he shared with the world - that civil rights must be preserved for everyone regardless of race, creed, or nationality.

The Lakeland Police Department has helped sponsor the Dr. M.L. King parade in Lakeland through financial support for the parade and the other events that occur during the week-long celebration. We are proud to be associated with this annual celebration and call upon everyone to continue our collective efforts to see Dr. King's dream come true.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Policing Political Campaign Stops

By now you have no doubt seen something about Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani making a campaign appearance in Lakeland on Monday evening. The local press covered this political event as did Cat Carter over at blog.ylakeland.com. You can see numerous photos on Cat's blog, but you will see more at her Flickr photostream. I encourage you to take a few minutes to read her blog and then look at the numerous photos taken of this campaign stop in our town.

In more than one photo you will see several Lakeland Police officers. You might wonder if we were there to protect Mr. Giuliani. The answer is no, LPD was primarily responsible for crowd control and traffic safety rather than serving as personal security for Mr. Giuliani. Our Public Information Officer, Mr. Jack Gillen, as also there to assist with the media covering this event.

Candidates arrange for their own security details at this stage of the campaign process. Mr. Giuliani's advance team contacted us to make arrangements for this stop, but they maintained responsibility for protecting the candidate. Secret Service protection comes into the picture for major presidential and vice presidential candidates, and their spouses, within 120 days of a general presidential election. The exception to this being Mrs. Clinton who gets a Secret Service detail as the former First Lady of our nation.

Local police will generally be responsible for maintaining a peaceable assembly at these events, but we do not provide personal protection for the candidates. Further, we do not prohibit counter demonstrators from making an appearance. It's all about policing to ensure our First amendment rights.

- Asst Chief Bill LePere

Lakeland Police Introduce New PAL Executive Director

The Lakeland Police Department is pleased to announce Mr. Tim Abram is the new Executive Director of the Lakeland Police Athletic League. The public is invited to meet him at a social function on Tuesday, January 8, 2008, from 5:30 - 7:00 PM, at the Apostle Henry Ross, Sr. Family Life Center, located at 1302 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. (Map of this location available here)

Tim was born and raised in Lakeland, having attended Lake Gibson High School where he was the captain of the football team. He was the leading rusher in Polk County during the 1991 school year, and later set a state record by rushing for 315 yards in a district game. Upon graduation from high school, Tim attended Grambling State University where he played for the legendary Coach Eddie Robinson, Sr.

He earned his BS degree from Grambling in Leisure Studies/Therapeutic Recreation and later obtained his MBA from Everest University. Tim and his wife, Tomeka, live in Lakeland with their two children.

Tim brings a diversified background to the PAL position, but all of it is grounded in the belief that working with children can promote positive lifestyle habits and improve the welfare of youth in our community. PAL's goals are to instill good health habits, good sportsmanship, and high morals and civic standards in the youth of the community. This is accomplished by helpful fulfill the need for recreational, educational, and social activities that are designed to rehabilitate youthful first-time offenders, and prevent their return into the criminal justice system.

Come join us tomorrow evening and welcome Tim Abram to Lakeland PAL!

- Asst Chief Bill LePere