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For new police commander, challenges ahead

District II's Maj. Sophia Teague hopes to maintain or exceed the success of her predecessors.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published December 2, 2005

Sophia Teague has had an exciting couple of weeks. The Tampa police major was promoted to commander of the city's District II, which includes New Tampa and the University area, and she just moved into her new office.

Her new rank, according to police Chief Steve Hogue, was partly a reward for the extra time and effort she has spent writing legislation to protect neighborhood watch members from assault and drafting another proposal to protect children from criminals who try to entice them.

She also has had a sad couple of weeks as the caretaker of Jimbo, the department's only bloodhound, who was used to track missing children. Jimbo, whom Teague treated like a son, died one day after her promotion was announced.

It's too early and too difficult for Teague to talk about Jimbo.

But the 22-year veteran was willing to sit down for an interview with the Times to discuss some of the memorable moments in her career, what she hopes to accomplish in District II, her mother's influence, and one of the few things she has unpacked so far: an odd-looking pinata with a tiny police vest and miniature handcuffs.

Oh, that's Quadzilla. It's something I came up with when I was a Quad sergeant. He's a drug-fighting dinosaur. One day, I want to see smaller kids get educated about drugs in school. . . . You can't start too soon.

I thought Quadzilla would be a good way to introduce antidrug messages to little kids. He has all kinds of catch phrases, like, "Drugs - Not Kids - Should Be Extinct." He's sort of like a McGruff (the crime-fighting dog) figure. All kids love dinosaurs, no matter how many generations have passed. They never go away!

Probably on a night (March 23, 1995) when two police officers were shot. I was police corporal and was involved in the pursuit . . . the officers were Kevin Howell and Mike Vigil. I've had to block most of it out.

That would have to be when the neighborhood watch statute was passed. That was harder than I thought. Just when you think there are no boulders in the way, someone will dump a bunch of rocks on you.

I thought there would be no way anyone would disagree with a statute protecting neighborhood watch members, but it wasn't that easy. It took four years to get that thing passed.

Probably about high school age. I went to college with good intentions - my mother wanted me to go to law school. But after a couple of years at the University of South Carolina, I came down here to visit some relatives and ended up applying for a job at TPD, got hired and never went back home.

After a few years, I had to go back to college (Saint Leo) and get my degree because I knew how important it was, so I wouldn't recommend dropping out of college to anyone.

I had the intentions of being an attorney, but I knew I wanted to be a police officer because I was more service-geared and wanted to help people on a more personal service level. When TPD called, I thought, "That's it. It was meant to be."

My mom was not happy. She asked me for several years, "So when are you coming back from that long break you took?" Now she's very happy, very proud of me. At first, she was scared because I'm the baby of the family. I used to fib and say, "Oh, I have a lot of office assignments. I'm not on the street much."

This district really has it all. You go from Sulphur Springs (a higher-crime area that sees a lot of drug arrests) all the way up to New Tampa. This district has everything except high-rise buildings, and who knows? They might build one in New Tampa.

One of my biggest challenges will be to keep things going the way (former commanders) Jane Castor and Bob Guidara did, to keep things running as smoothly.

They lowered the crime rate significantly in this district and when Chief Hogue told me I was going to District II, he said, "I expect that or better from you." So I've got my work cut out for me.

My mother (Maggie Teague) has definitely been one of the biggest influences in my life. She lives in a nursing home now in South Carolina.

Every time I've been in the news or on TV for something, she gets a video of it and insists everybody gather around and watch it. I'm sure those people are sick of seeing me. She used to be a nurse, so she kind of helps take care of things around the nursing home. She's never let me forget how proud she is of me.

As far as the Police Department goes, I'd have to say one of the people who has influenced me the most is Sgt. Kenny Norris.

At one time during my career, I was at the top of the promotional list but was passed over for the promotion I was expecting. I was really upset about it, and even though he (Norris) was working for me at the time, he was one of the few people who realized how upset I was.

Kenny explained to me and helped me understand that I wasn't in control, that someone else higher up was in control. He helped me realize that (former police) Chief Bennie Holder wasn't in control, that someone way above him was.

So I stayed a sergeant at the time, and not long after that was when I got the idea for the state statute on protecting neighborhood watch members. Kenny reminded me of that later and said, "You were left in this place to do something good for other people."

Kenny is probably one of the best people I've ever known. We just clicked.

If you ever have a chance to meet him, you'll see why.

[Last modified December 1, 2005, 09:34:11]