Privacy is priority for Chief Holder

By KATHRYN WEXLER and SUE CARLTON

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 18, 2000

Reporters calling Tampa police Chief Bennie Holder at the office are usually routed to a public information officer. Holder has a knack for ducking such calls and deflecting comment by assigning other police officials to do the talking for the department, particularly when the issue at hand doesn't deal with a happy topic, such as a drop in crime.

In fact, Mayor Dick Greco is more often quoted in stories dealing with the police department than the chief.

So the chief didn't take kindly to a Tampa Tribune reporter calling him on Saturday. His day off. At home no less.

"My home is my castle, don't bother me there," Holder told a St. Petersburg Times reporter who approached him on the subject during a going-away party for his spokesman, Steve Cole.

"When I raised my hand and took this job," he said, holding his right hand aloft as though taking an oath, "I did not sell out life."

Apparently, Holder's wife feels the same way. She got to the phone first and Holder never took the receiver. Joe Durkin, Holder's acting spokesman, was then dispatched to sniff out the offending reporter.

Holder is so concerned about his privacy, he refuses to subscribe to local newspapers. He worries that would allow his address to circulate among newspaper staff, who might then show up en masse at his doorstep.

Not that he's given up on daily newspaper reading, he says. "I read them at the office," Holder said.

For the record, this newspaper has other ways of finding out where the chief lives, and managed to do so in less than a minute.

TURNABOUT: Most of the red notebook binders that the Tampa Police Internal Affairs Department churns out, detailing questionable behavior by cops, make their way to the desk of Deputy Chief John Bushell.

A man with an easy smile, Bushell can kill a career with the stroke of a pen. It is he, (supervised by Holder) who decides whether a wayward cop gets a slap on the wrist or a pink slip.

But now the head disciplinarian is the subject of an Internal Affairs investigation.

Those involved, including Bushell, say state law forbids them to confirm or deny the existence of the pending case, much less talk about its substance.

"By policy, I can't say anything to you," Bushell said apologetically, who is normally delighted to comment.

But one person did have something to say about the investigation, even if wasn't much. Bushell has hired Barry Cohen, a marquee lawyer, to deal with Internal Affairs on his behalf.

"Steve Romine and myself will be handling that case for John," Cohen said. "I'll just tell you that we've been retained. As to when, or how much he's paying us and what it's about, I'm not going to discuss that."

Cohen added: "We're going to do what has to be done."

And if anybody should know what that will take, it's Bushell.

A NICE GUY, TOO: To many in the rank-and-file of the Tampa Police Department, Deputy Chief Ken Taylor is the Big Man with the top floor view, an untouchable cop because of his longtime friendship with the mayor, a tough, straight-talking administrator who oversees much of what goes on at the department.

He knows how to play hardball with reporters when he'd rather not see certain stories in print. And he has lost his temper more than once during his 35-year career with the department.

But at the send-off for Cole, who has gone to work for the feds, Taylor revealed his kinder, gentler side.

Standing before a hundred colleagues and friends as he paid tribute to Cole, Taylor choked up.

"I was sick recently," the deputy chief said, referring to prostate cancer, "and Steve formed a prayer group."

His voiced faltered, then. His hand flew protectively to his face. He cleared his throat.

"It's working," Taylor continued, before leaving the podium to embrace Cole, who looked like he might just lose it, too.

A day later, Taylor was asked to reflect on his heartfelt, if brief, speech.

"I'm approachable, I care about people," Taylor said. "That's one of my better reputations around here."

"People think it's out of character to stand up and say something like that to Steve . . . but I'm not afraid to get up there and show emotion," said Taylor, mentioning that he helped pioneer a community relations police group back in 1969, which led to taunts of "n----- lover," by some older cops. He also headed the hostage negotiation team for over 10 years because he could connect with people, he said.

"I'm a nice guy." Then, sounding more like the Taylor some know, "and people either like me or they don't. I have no obligation to try to please everybody."

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