Fired officer wants back on force

The veteran Indian Shores cop says he's being singled out. But the chief says he was lying.

By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 17, 2002

INDIAN SHORES -- An 18-year veteran with the Indian Shores Police Department, fired after he was accused of falsifying his duty log and lying to investigators, is trying to get his job back.

His defense so far? The rest of the nine-member department keeps sloppy records, too.

"Everybody in this place is involved in the exact same thing," former Indian Shores Cpl. Dennis Salliotte said during an internal affairs investigation into whether he filled out an employment application for another agency while on duty in Indian Shores. "What I did, other people have done. You know, nobody's got burned on it."

Police Chief E.D. Williams has little patience for Salliotte's defense and said Tuesday "there's no room in this department for somebody who lies." He said he distinguished between an officer who does not account for every minute of his day on an activity log and an officer like Salliotte, who Williams said makes up information to cover gaps in the log.

"When confronted about it, he said, 'Well, everybody does it,' " Williams said. "Well, the truth is, everybody doesn't do it."

Salliotte, 55, also said Williams allows police officers to watch rented movies from Blockbuster video while on duty. Williams called that charge "absolutely absurd."

"It's hard to defend yourself against someone who will simply make something up, and that's what we're dealing with here, constantly," Williams said.

Salliotte planned to appeal this spring's firing to the Town Commission on Tuesday, but the case has been delayed until the Florida Department of Law Enforcement can wrap up its investigation of a related matter. Bill LauBach, executive director of the Pinellas County Police Benevolent Association and Salliotte's lawyer, would not comment on that investigation.

Salliotte declined to comment Tuesday because LauBach instructed him not to talk to the press. On Monday, however, Salliotte said he thought he was singled out for firing because he arrested the son of a prominent Indian Shores man.

Indeed, Salliotte was the police officer who recently arrested the adult son of former Mayor Bob McEwen. McEwen on Tuesday dismissed the idea that Salliotte could be given harsh treatment because he arrested McEwen's son, saying that when he was mayor, he told the Police Department not to give his son any special treatment.

Earlier this year McEwen's son used a key to a neighbor's condominium to let himself into the home. He stayed there for a week and one day dialed 911. When police arrived, they hospitalized him under the Baker Act, and McEwen said Salliotte arrested the man for burglary.

McEwen said he does not make excuses for his son's behavior and would not retaliate against a police officer who arrested him. "We're not asking anyone to cover for him in any way," McEwen said.

In 1996, Salliotte was suspended without pay for one week after shouting at McEwen, then the mayor, in the Police Department lobby over the town's parking policy. Part of Salliotte's punishment involved apologizing to McEwen.

LauBach said the town's police chief has held Salliotte to a different standard than other officers.

"There is a certain amount of animosity that exists between the chief and Dennis, and it is personal," LauBach said. "There's no other way to describe it."

Among the allegations against Salliotte:

He is accused of spending two hours filling out an application to work for Florida Capitol Police while on duty, then lying about it. An officer found the ribbon on the squad room typewriter matched Salliotte's application and turned it in to investigators.

Salliotte is also accused of not adequately responding to a domestic violence call in January.

Salliotte and another officer responded to a domestic dispute in Redington Shores at a home known for a series of domestic violence incidents. The officers could not get into the condominium building, so Salliotte returned to the Police Department to get a phone number for someone who could let them into the building.

Salliotte never returned to the scene, leaving the other officer to work it alone. "For 40 minutes, he left the guy down there with two suspects who had the hell beat out of them," Williams said. "The fireman wasn't very happy that he had to be backing up the policeman instead of helping the victims."

Salliotte is also accused of responding to a call about someone throwing glass bottles at a local miniature golf course, but never documenting the call or writing a report about it.

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