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Veteran undercover officer lauded

Undercover detective Steven Coyman and his canine partners have made record seizures of illicit drugs.

By JON WILSON
Published August 21, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Steven Coyman, a veteran of 20 years with the St. Petersburg Police Department, has won the Herbert Sullivan Award for his outstanding work as a narcotics and vice investigator.

Coyman has handled drug-detection dogs for 14 years, building an impressive record of seizures while training two dogs celebrated for their efficiency, said Lt. Lisa McKinney, one of Coyman's supervisors.

One of the dogs, Ben-K, was Coyman's partner for 12 years. She scored a perfect 100 on the United States Police Canine Association test and set a career record for drug seizures in St. Petersburg, McKinney said.

The dog sniffed out drugs on more than 500 occasions, in addition to working more than 100 search warrants. She never raised a false alert, McKinney said. Ben-K was retired last year.

The Sullivan award, given annually since 1997, is named after the last St. Petersburg police officer to be killed in the line of duty. An undercover narcotics detective, Sullivan died 25 years ago this month when a drug buy went bad. He was 30 years old.

Officers, city officials and family members held a special memorial service Thursday for Sullivan on the date of the detective's death. Mayor Rick Baker, State Attorney Bernie McCabe, police Chief Chuck Harmon and Deputy Mayor Tish Elston were among those who attended.

Earlier this year, officers trekked to Tallahassee to speak out against the release of Sammie Lee Mathis, who is serving a life sentence for killing Sullivan. Mathis had come up for a parole hearing. His presumptive parole date is now Aug. 18, 2281. Coyman's work in St. Petersburg with both Ben-K and his new dog Mattie during 2004-05 resulted in the seizure of 570 pounds of marijuana worth $1.2-million on the street, McKinney said.

Working only with Mattie during the first three months of this year, Coyman and his canine seized more than 1,084 pounds of marijuana, recovered $26,000 in drug money and uncovered 27 boxes of illegal steroids.

[Last modified August 21, 2005, 00:50:20]