Sheriff's decision could weaken abuse protection

By C.T. BOWEN

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 22, 2001

I suspect Bob White never met Barbara Honeyman.

White is Pasco County sheriff, 112 days into his term and trying to figure out -- or let his subordinates figure out -- how to put more patrol deputies on the street.

Honeyman knew a little bit about law enforcement. She was married to a cop for 21 years.

But the 39-year-old New York transplant died six years ago in her New Port Richey home. She was stabbed five times. Her estranged husband, Robert, the retired lawman from Long Island, surrendered to police the same night.

Violence had become common in their household. Robert Honeyman had been charged with abusing his wife three years earlier. The charge was dropped after he completed a family violence program. Barbara Honeyman also filed two domestic violence restraining orders against him.

Two days before the killing, they were in court again. Robert Honeyman wanted to extend a domestic violence restraining order against his wife, claiming she had broken into the house and attacked him physically. A judge denied the request.

Robert Honeyman offered a ridiculous defense at trial. His wife stabbed herself in the chest, he maintained, while attacking him.

Typical of an abuser. He blamed the victim.

He couldn't account for the four other stab wounds, or their 15-year-old daughter's eyewitness testimony to the slaying. The jury convicted him of murder.

The pattern of abusive behavior culminating in Barbara Honeyman's Jan. 15, 1995, slaying became the flash point for domestic violence awareness in Pasco County.

Sure, a task force had been culled together in the late 1980s at the urging of Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper. But its focus is on improving communications among law enforcement, prosecutors, advocates and social agencies.

Honeyman's death increased public pressure for a law enforcement response. The Pasco Chapter of the National Organization for Women advocated a specialized police unit to focus exclusively on domestic violence.

White's predecessor, Lee Cannon, was reluctant initially, saying he didn't have the personnel to devote to such a unit. It sparked several public confrontations between the sheriff's staff and NOW members, including a shouting match during a ceremony unveiling a billboard to increase awareness of domestic violence. The billboard was dedicated in memory of Honeyman.

The Sheriff's Office later landed a federal grant to begin the specialized unit -- three detectives, a sergeant and support staff to focus exclusively on domestic violence.

White now wants to disband that squad. The spin is that it is evolving. It is the sheriff's version of Darwinism. This theory of evolution calls for three detectives to mingle with 17 others investigating major crimes. There no longer will be detectives working exclusively on domestic violence.

To compensate, each of the department's road deputies are to undergo 24 hours of domestic violence training, intended to prepare them to be better investigators at the scene. More and faster arrests are the goal, White said.

Left unsaid: Folding the detectives into a bigger bureau could translate into more full-time positions transferring to patrol.

White has bitten off the first hot-button issue of his tenure, favoring increased patrols over a highly visible, politically popular specialized unit.

On Wednesday, White and Capt. Alan Weinstein took the sales job to a meeting of the Domestic Violence Task Force, where they met a skeptical audience of NOW members.

"Why are you trying to change something that isn't broken?" asked one. Another asked why training hasn't been done sooner.

White and Weinstein don't have to travel to public forums to hear a similar discourse. They could listen to some of the people who volunteer for the sheriff.

Angela Signoriello spends an hour or two a month typing and filing in the domestic abuse unit. She's a member of NOW and concerned about the planned demise of the specialized group.

"I'm not happy about it. It's very important. These people are specially trained in (stopping) domestic violence. I think he's making a mistake," Signoriello said.

"You see these women, and they have no one to protect them. It's not fair."

Signoriello has a unique viewpoint. She had her own experiences with domestic violence. It is one of the reasons she volunteers in that unit.

Her daughter was a victim, but the whole family suffered. Her daughter was Barbara Honeyman.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright