The way is now clear for city police officers to issue tickets and investigate accidents on adjacent county streets.
By CHRIS TISCH
Published April 26, 2004
Last year, the police chiefs in Largo and Clearwater wanted to form a countywide accord in which city police officers could enforce traffic laws and investigate traffic crashes in unincorporated parts of the county.
The chiefs said officers often were left helpless to stop bad drivers if traffic infractions occurred just outside their city limits. It made sense, the chiefs said, to allow city officers to creep into the county sometimes.
But Sheriff Everett Rice balked at the idea, saying he couldn't assume county residents would appreciate officers from Treasure Island or Tarpon Springs enforcing laws in their neighborhoods.
So Clearwater and Largo formed their own agreement. Belleair soon jumped on board and Pinellas Park was poised to join next.
Now, sheriff's officials have agreed to sign on to a watered-down version of the Clearwater-Largo accord. The agreement allows city officers to issue traffic tickets and investigate accidents on county streets contiguous to the city line.
All Pinellas cities are expected to sign on to the agreement, but need the approval of their city commissions. Officials expect to sign the accord this summer.
"I think it's great for law enforcement. I think it's great for the people we serve," said Largo Police Chief Lester Aradi. "It's going to help make the streets a little bit safer."
Jim Coats, chief deputy of the Sheriff's Office, is a bit more lukewarm on the subject.
"I don't think it has a real significant impact as far as our responsibilities," Coats said. "I guess some of the municipalities feel it would be advantageous to them."
But Aradi, who, along with Clearwater Police Chief Sid Klein, has pushed hardest for the agreement, said city officers will be empowered to make both city and county streets safer.
Currently, if a city officer sees a driver run a red light a half-block outside the city lines, there is nothing he or she can do about it.
"That highly trained officer would be legally neutered in his enforcement capabilities," Aradi said.
Likewise, if there is a fender bender 25 feet outside the city, officers must wait for a deputy or trooper to arrive, which can take longer than the 20 minutes needed to fill out an accident report.
And sometimes, officers and deputies have to put their heads together to figure out whether an accident is in the city or the county. The new accord will eliminate those problems, Klein said.
"The real winners in this are really the citizens. They don't have to wait around," Klein said. "It's a more effective and efficient way of doing business."
The accord will be particularly pleasant for Klein, because Clearwater is spotted with county enclaves that can make enforcement tricky.
"It's peppered, and often times there's so much wasted time just trying to find out if they're in the city or the county," he said.
The Clearwater-Largo agreement allows officers from any participating city to enforce laws in another participating city. Though there are no statistics on how many times Clearwater officers have enforced the law in Largo or vice versa, the two agencies collaborated earlier this month on a traffic enforcement detail on Belleair Road. Officers issued 22 citations.
The proposed countywide accord restricts enforcement to contiguous streets. Proceeds from the fines go to the government where the infraction occurred.
Coats, who is Rice's second-in-command, said he wonders how county residents will feel about city officers in their areas.
"To have someone from another agency enforcing traffic laws or other laws could be a concern for citizens," he said.
Still, he said Rice decided to go along with the proposal.
Aradi thinks the city officers will make county areas even more secure.
"City officers now can make towns that border them that much safer," Aradi said. "This satisfies me. It goes as far as I feel it realistically can go."
