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© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2003
DADE CITY -- Pasco County sheriff's Capt. Jim Driscoll, who oversees community policing and crime prevention, has been named as the new commander of District 2 on the east side.
The district covers territory stretching east of U.S. 41.
He replaces the current commander, Capt. Pete Petrosky, who retires Friday after 20 years at the Sheriff's Office.
Driscoll, 62, is a former New York police officer who joined the Pasco Sheriff's Office in 1986 as a road patrol deputy. His ties to east Pasco started soon after he joined the force.
In 1987, he became the first crime prevention officer to be based in east Pasco. Crime prevention responsibilities include educating businesses and residents about ways to avoid auto thefts and how to form neighborhood watch groups.
Driscoll worked his way up to patrol sergeant in east Pasco.
He left the department in 1999 to work for a year in Kosovo as an international police instructor for the United Nations before returning to the Sheriff's Office.
His relationship with former Sheriff Lee Cannon was not the best.
Driscoll was promoted to lieutenant by former Sheriff Jim Gillum in the waning days of his administration. After Cannon took office in 1993, he demoted Driscoll to sergeant.
In 1996, Driscoll was part of the Career Service Appeals Board that voted overwhelmingly to rehire Detective Scott Gattuso, who was fired at the end of an 18-month investigation of the Economic Crimes Unit.
Since 2001, he has held his current job in charge of seven employees in crime prevention throughout the county and 16 on the community policing team.
Now he'll also oversee patrol duties on the east side and supervise an additional 140 staff members. His pay of about $67,000 a year will stay the same, Driscoll said.
His goal is to marry the three components of his job, bringing more community policing and crime prevention to the patrol division where possible.
"It's a new challenge," he said. "I'm going to come in and look at the entire options."
His new job starts Monday.
Petrosky, 56, who has worked everything from road patrol to criminal investigations to property crimes in the department, says he has big plans for retirement.
"I'm going to play some golf and then play some more golf," Petrosky said. "And in between, I'll practice golf."
-- Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report.