Integrity is this sheriff's strategy
After his first year in office, the county sheriff has built a reputation as a hands-on, no-nonsense innovator.
By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published January 1, 2006
TAMPA - In his Ybor City office, Hillsborough Sheriff David Gee displays his collection of rifles and shotguns dating back to 1873. He keeps a replica of the Colt Buntline Special revolver made famous by Wild West legend Wyatt Earp.
Gee also rides horses. He goes hunting in Georgia and Texas.
"I'm just a cowboy," Gee says with a chuckle. "Cowboy sheriff."
Maybe so. But in his first year as the top law enforcer for Florida's fourth-most-populous county, Gee has proved himself an aggressive innovator - intent on elevating the standards and performance of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
In the 12 months since Gee, 46, took office:
He ushered in patrol cars equipped with Global Positioning Systems as well as a regional database linking the records of area law enforcement.
Gee created specialty units to monitor sexual offenders, pursue gang members and investigate deadly crashes. He told his deputies to go after aggressive and intoxicated drivers. He even set up a group of volunteers to seek out new leads on murder cases that went cold long ago.
Gee raised the education and fitness requirements for deputies. They now must be at least 21 with an associate's degree, 60 course hours or three years of experience. He told smokers and tattoo bearers they need not apply. And he created a scholarship program to recruit more minority deputies.
He convinced local law enforcement agencies to craft uniform policies on Taser use, deadly force and high-speed pursuits.
In a marked departure from his predecessor, Gee meted out strict discipline to deputies who violated department policies or broke laws. Five deputies resigned in lieu of being fired for various offenses including illegally obtaining prescription drugs. That was as many as had resigned in the previous five years combined.
Gee and his staff negotiated the first-ever union contract for deputies and bailiffs, holding firm on some provisions but compromising on others - including salary.
Gee also won a partial victory in court, getting a judge's okay to subpoena the local law enforcement chat board site LeoAffairs.com, where Gee says some of his deputies are violating department policy by anonymously posting racist and sexist comments.
"It's been a stressful year, I'll tell you," Gee said recently at Longhorn's Steakhouse in Brandon, the lunch spot of his choosing.
"Now we have to sustain our efforts. This is no time to sit back and bask."
Gee's mind, like his Blackberry, rarely stops. He doesn't need more than a few hours' sleep, which explains the e-mails he sends his assistant, Wendy Stanek, at 3 and 4 a.m.
"I come in in the morning, and they're waiting in my inbox," Stanek said.
Last week, Stanek looked at Gee's schedule for Jan. 28 and saw a list of conflicting engagements: the Gasparilla invasion and parade, a dance recital for his daughter, a wedding and the Strawberry Festival ball in Plant City.
Gee plans to attend them all.
"There's nights where he goes to three functions that are all scheduled at the same time," said Stanek, who was an assistant to Cal Henderson, a previous sheriff. "He will make every one of them, somehow."
Gee goes out on DUI busts and says he still likes to patrol the streets like he did as a young deputy. He juggles neighborhood watch meetings and community events with family obligations.
Gee thinks the schedule is taking a toll on his hairline.
"Look at a picture of me last year," he says with a smile. "I didn't look like this!"
Gee had been in office only a couple of weeks when he announced that he would go after gangs.
Scott Laugherty, president of the Heather Lakes Community Association in Brandon, was skeptical.
Laugherty, a Heather Lakes resident since 1998, had heard those promises before.
"I was like, "Yeah, right, I'll believe it when I see it."'
Then Laugherty's phone rang. It was Gee. The sheriff had researched the neighborhood's crime statistics. He knew how many times Laugherty had called the Sheriff's Office the previous year.
Gee met with the community association board for more than an hour, Laugherty said. The sheriff heard about gang graffiti, speeding, car burglaries and drugs.
Four months later, Gee held a press conference at a park in Heather Lakes and announced the arrests of 66 people for gang activities.
"Before, I would see an officer in our neighborhood, if I was lucky, once a month," Laugherty said recently. "Today I see an officer every other time I go in and out of our community. And I have not heard any more about gang problems."
A deputy now attends most of the association's meetings and submits a crime report for the Heather Lakes newsletter. Speeding is down, Laugherty said.
"The man has done an awesome job," he said of Gee.
Crime in unincorporated Hillsborough dropped 8 percent in the first six months of 2005, compared to the same period in 2004, even as the population grew. Robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts all dropped by more than 10 percent.
Gee insists the credit belongs to his executive staff and deputies, several of whom have master's degrees and Ph.D.s.
"I've surrounded myself with people who are always thinking of new things," he said.
Gee's first year has not been without challenges or critics.
He and his staff spent most of the year negotiating a union contract.
Talks sometimes stalled amid disagreements over salary. The recently negotiated compromise, which gives deputies annual raises based on years of service, pleased both sides.
"There has been a steady and significant change in the interaction between us," said union president Kevin Durkin, a former Tampa police officer who has known Gee for years. "I think he accepts the union and its role."
Relations are less amicable between sheriff's administrators and the operators of LeoAffairs.com.
The Sheriff's Office filed suit against the chat site, run by retired and current Tampa police officers. Gee and his chief deputy, Jose Docobo, wanted to identify through subpoena those deputies who left false, crude and revealing messages about the agency and its investigation of missing baby Sabrina Aisenberg.
Gee says the publicly accessible site harms morale, undermines public trust and weakens internal discipline. Site founders say the First Amendment protects its users.
One judge denied the Sheriff's Office's request to find out the identities of message board users who criticized the agency's handling of the Aisenberg case. Another judge granted Gee's request to determine the identities of those posting racist or homophobic messages and messages that discuss pending criminal investigations.
Gee promises that when he learns who the deputies are, he will discipline them.
"There's no favoritism with David," said Tampa police Chief Steve Hogue. "With him, whatever the infraction and whatever the penalty, that's what you get."
Five deputies, facing likely termination for misconduct, have resigned since Gee took office.
Among them: Reginald Davis, who was suspended six times over 16 years for a variety of missteps including negligence and using profanity or obscene gestures. Detention Deputy Andrew Blackburn resigned following his August arrest, when he was accused of illegally obtaining the prescription painkiller Vicodin.
"I've gotten rid of the ones committing deliberate, illegal acts," Gee said. "I've fired the ones who shouldn't be here."
Despite his reputation as a progressive, forward-thinking sheriff, Gee said he models his disciplinary approach after that of former Sheriff Malcolm Beard, who served from 1965 to 1978. A conservative during the Vietnam era, Beard had no tolerance for marijuana smoking, long hair and free love.
His firm stands on a variety of issues prompted people to label him stubborn or courageous, depending what side they were on. He was so outspoken, his comments sometimes got him into trouble. But there was never any doubt about where Beard, now retired, stood.
"He was the last of the old Florida sheriffs," Gee said. "He was absolutely no-nonsense. He didn't tolerate anything that dirtied the uniform.
"Technology changes, the courts change, and we have to move forward. But there are certain values - honesty, integrity - that we always have to uphold."
Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com