Notes point up officers' low morale

By ANNE LINDBERG

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 10, 2001

PINELLAS PARK -- Straight from the officers, here is an assessment of the city's Police Department:

Understaffed so severely as to be dangerous.

Rife with rundown cars and equipment.

Steeped in favoritism.

Beset by distrust of administrators at the highest levels.

Officers appear to admire and trust Chief Dorene Thomas, but many employees are skeptical of the prospect for change in the department.

The opinions were solicited last fall during an anonymous morale survey that Pinellas Park commissioned for department employees. Overall results were released in October, but officials refused to make public the officers' handwritten comments.

This week a judge ordered the city to release the individual surveys in accordance with the state's public information laws.

The comments back up the survey's conclusions -- that morale is low, officers feel underpaid and unappreciated, and that they think their supervisors are unqualified and manage by fear and retaliation -- but they more vividly show the anger, fear, frustration and distrust simmering in the department.

Understaffing, many respondents said and the chief and city manager acknowledged, is severe.

"Workload is primarily extreme. Not even ample time to complete reports and conduct essential investigations," one officer reported.

Said another: "We are the worst staffed agency in the state of Florida."

A third said, "Most of the time they are at minimum staffing and at times below."

The problem is not only in patrol. One detective wrote about the need for more help and the inability to complete investigations and reports. An employee in dispatch agreed more people are needed there.

High turnover aggravates the problem as trained, experienced officers are lost and then replaced by rookies just out of the academy, numerous staffers wrote.

The inexperience of some officers stands in opposition to the age of the equipment being used: old cars that one respondent called "embarrassing" when trying to recruit new officers, no in-car radios, portable radios that are unusable in some "dead spots" in the city, too few computers for the number of officers.

Thomas and City Manager Jerry Mudd said they had not read the comments, but both agreed that the department needs more officers.

"We've been asking for more officers, yes, and we're extremely busy," Thomas said.

Mudd said the officers' cries for help have been heard.

"Staffing is an important issue related to our police department at this time," Mudd said.

The city hired four more officers in the 1999-2000 fiscal year, he said. This year, two are scheduled to come on board. That will be followed by three next year, five the following year, and three more the year after that.

"In addition, in the current year's budget, we have provisions for a master planning for a 50 percent space addition for the Police Department, which will be required with this staffing buildup," Mudd said.

No improvements will be enough, many respondents wrote, if the supervision remains the same.

Sometimes, they're angry with their immediate bosses, the sergeants.

"There is no "leadership,' " one officer wrote.

Another said, "It seems supervisors prey on the weak."

A third officer was more scathing about the sergeants: "They are beginning to try to be civil and reasonable. Most are barely competent, though."

The hardest feelings were reserved for the second- and third-highest-ranked officers in the department: Capts. Bob Hempel and Mike Vetter. They were seen as stumbling blocks to change and improvement.

In discussing upper management, one officer wrote that it's a "total disaster. The new chief is trying, but two captains are not cooperating."

Several other officers agreed that "the two captains need to leave" and it "will be business as usual until the captains go."

Vetter did receive a positive comment from one officer, who said, "I know I can walk into Capt. Vetter's, Lt. (John) Green's, and the chief's office and have a sit-down personal conversation without fear of retaliation."

But comments about Hempel were uniformly disparaging:

"Capt. Hempel still runs the department."

"There is little or no respect for Capt. Hempel."

"Capt. Hempel is doing everything in his power to undermine Chief Thomas. This captain thinks he can do anything he wants. The man is an arrogant a-."

Vetter was off on Tuesday and could not be reached for comment. Hempel did not return a phone call asking for comment.

Mudd, the city manager, declined to comment on the complaints about Vetter and Hempel, saying, "I believe that Chief Thomas will appropriately deal with all the employee issues in her department."

Mudd also dodged questions concerning his appointment of Thomas. He bypassed both Vetter and Hempel, who outranked Thomas, to appoint her as chief. He declined to say whether one of his reasons for bypassing the higher-ranking officers had to do with their unpopularity with the department's rank and file.

"I appointed Dorene because I felt that she was the most qualified employee in the police department for the task she's currently performing," Mudd said.

Thomas also declined to discuss Hempel and Vetter, saying she wanted to steer away from personalities. She denied that the captains were blocking change in the department.

"I want to look at those surveys. Remember those were several months ago," Thomas said. "I don't have any evidence that there's any undermining."

Also coming in for criticism were the female officers who have filed state and federal complaints of sexual harassment and discrimination.

One officer complained most about Shirley Atherton Marsh, who no longer works for the department, and Donna Saxer, who does. Federal authorities have ruled that Atherton-Marsh had been discriminated against, but the officer commenting on the survey said her claims were not true:

"Atherton was not demoted. She did not lose any pay. ... She was constantly getting in trouble."

The officer also blasted Saxer, saying, "Saxer does minimal investigations. She does not do anything more but the minimal to get by. She constantly does not process crime scenes."

Saxer's attorney, Catherine Kyres, laughed when she heard the comment and said, "Okay, which sergeant wrote that? We've got a few in the running. . .a few competing for the honor of that authorship."

Kyres said Saxer has received commendations and awards and evidence would show that those allegations are untrue.

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