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Town fires officer as criticism boils over
By AMY WIMMER, Times Staff Writer INDIAN SHORES -- Dennis Salliotte tried to present himself as a cop who did his job but ran afoul of the wrong people in a small town. The town he helped protect for 18 years depicted him as something different: a police officer who kept sloppy records, applied for another job while on duty and failed to back up fellow officers on calls. The Indian Shores Town Council on Tuesday upheld its staff's decision to fire Salliotte. The longtime police officer appealed to the council, hoping it would reinstate him and let him work the two more years he needs to qualify for his pension. Instead, the council voted unanimously to fire Salliotte. Mayor Don Taber said it was difficult to fire an employee with such a long tenure in Indian Shores, but he questioned Salliotte's loyalty. "That was probably the hardest thing for us to do, but you've got to realize this: He was writing a letter for employment for somebody else, so I guess that 18 years didn't mean much to him," Taber said. "It's a tough call." The decision caps Salliotte's long and sometimes tumultuous career with Indian Shores. The department's one-time union representative once got into a shouting match with the mayor. Faced with the investigation earlier this year that led to his firing, he made his own allegations against the police chief and reported them to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Town Attorney Jim Yacavone, who investigated the allegations after FDLE referred them to him, determined they were not credible. "It is appropriate to note that Mr. Salliotte made these charges at a point in time when he was under investigation by the police department for charges which ultimately resulted in his dismissal from the department," Yacavone wrote in his summary of the investigation. William M. LauBach, executive director of the Pinellas County Police Benevolent Association and Salliotte's lawyer, said his client has exhausted his appeals, though he could sue the city in civil court and allege he was fired for blowing the whistle on the police chief. Salliotte said Friday that he might sue, but he doubts he will. "He's been pretty much blackballed in law enforcement because of the charges that were made against him," LauBach said, "and I'm sure that he's not getting recommendations from Chief Williams." Salliotte claims he was fired because he was "not a good ol' boy," specifically because he arrested the son of former Mayor Bob McEwen. The police chief in his testimony described Salliotte as a "very gruff" officer who "treated people kind of nasty." He also testified that Salliotte often lied to cover up mistakes he made. Six years ago, the last time Williams recommended firing Salliotte, the police officer got into a shouting match with then-Mayor McEwen about parking problems at City Hall, then denied the argument, even though several people witnessed it. "I cannot trust that individual to deal with the good people in this city," Williams said. Some of the other allegations that led to Salliotte's firing: He was accused of spending two hours filling out an application to work for Florida Capitol Police while on duty, then lying about it. He was accused of not keeping appropriate records of how he spent time on his shift. The chief hinted that the reason officers do that is so they don't have to write more reports. Salliotte was accused of responding to a call about someone throwing glass bottles at a local miniature golf course, spending time tracking down the suspect and talking with those involved, but never recording it on his activity log or in a report. He also was accused of not responding to one domestic violence call and leaving his partner alone at another for some 40 minutes. Salliotte made claims against the chief, though none were substantiated in Yacavone's investigation. Salliotte declined to be interviewed by Yacavone, so the city attorney had to rely only on the records Salliotte submitted to back up his allegations, which included: Williams, because of his friendship with the former mayor, McEwen, failed to support his officers in several incidents involving the mayor's troubled son, William Gavin McEwen. Salliotte claimed that Williams convinced the state attorney or the burglary victim to drop charges against Gavin McEwen when he was accused of commiting a burglary in Indian Shores. Yacavone concluded that Salliotte's investigation into the incident was incomplete, and Williams did not try to influence the investigation. Salliotte claimed that Williams stepped in to protect Gavin McEwen in other incidents, including in 1999 when, Salliotte said, the chief "orchestrated a coverup" of burglary charges. Yacavone reported that no evidence was collected to implicate anyone, including Gavin McEwen. Salliotte alleged that the chief tried to cover up a driving under the influence charge against Gavin McEwen, but Yacavone found no evidence to support the claim. Salliotte said the chief also covered up several felony crimes, but did not provide specific information. Yacavone did not find anything to substantiate the allegation. Salliotte claimed the chief prohibited him from voting in a town election in 1994, but the chief said Salliotte lived in Indian Rocks Beach, not Indian Shores, at that time.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Jeff Webb Letters |
