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Buckhorn focuses on police matters
By DAVID KARP, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- Police officers still remember when Mayor Sandy Freedman took away their police cars 14 years ago. To save taxpayers $2.2-million in a tight budget year, Freedman decided that police officers could no longer take their cruisers home each night. At her side during the bitter fight was a young aide, Bob Buckhorn. More than a decade later, as Buckhorn runs for mayor, he wants to make it clear he won't take away police officers' cars ever again. On Friday, Buckhorn made that promise -- and underlined it -- as he announced his plan to fight crime if elected mayor in 2003. "I thought it was the wrong decision," Buckhorn said. As an aide to Freedman, Buckhorn said he was powerless to persuade Freedman to change the policy. He wasn't involved in making the decision either, he said. "It was clearly way out of my power," he said. Once elected to the City Council, Buckhorn said he voted to restore the take-home privilege. Mayor Dick Greco, who instituted the take-home policy during his first term as mayor in the late 1960s, restored the policy again in December 1996. "It has a very, very beneficial impact on the neighborhoods the cars are in," Buckhorn said. Bringing up the issue 14 years later shows what bitter memories there are of Freedman's decision. "I still have scars to show for it," Freedman said Friday. It's not likely that any mayor would ever take away the car privilege again. None of the mayoral candidates reached Friday advocated doing so. "They have them, and they will always have them now," Freedman said. "No one would ever pay that price again." Buckhorn's position also shows the political importance of the city police union. County Commissioner Chris Hart, who also is running for mayor, accused Buckhorn of flip-flopping on the police car issue for political gain. "These are things I have supported when Buckhorn was advising Mayor Freedman to take things away from the police," Hart said. "Those are good words, but his action in the past have been contradictory." Freedman said Friday that Buckhorn played no role in her decision. "That was strictly financially driven," she said. "We had a $15-million budget shortfall." In his platform, Buckhorn also pledged to continue Mayor Dick Greco's policy that allows police officers to chase drivers of stolen cars. The chase policy has led to some crashes, and some innocent motorists have died. But police say it has also lowered car theft. Buckhorn promised to work with police brass to reorganize the department by eliminating deputy chief positions and giving more authority to majors. "You need to empower the majors to run their divisions," he said. He also wants to create an incentive program, using low-interest loans, to get police officers to move into the city. If elected, Buckhorn said he would put armed law enforcement officers in city parks, and move quickly to fill 70 vacancies created by a wave of retirements. City Council Chairman Charlie Miranda, who's running for mayor too, said many of Buckhorn's proposals are not new. "I talked about them when I ran for office in 1995," Miranda said. He plans to outline his own proposals later this year. Mayoral candidate Frank Sanchez could not be reached for comment Friday. -- David Karp can be reached at 226-3376 or karp@sptimes.com.
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