Some want review of sheriff's proposal

Many residents and leaders are proud of their police department, but some want to review a plan that would do away with the agency.

By ERIC STIRGUS

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 19, 2000

LARGO -- When Nelle Attaway moved with her husband and their two young daughters from Alabama to Largo in 1946, the city had just one police officer.

Even then, there wasn't much for that officer to patrol. Largo was but a square-mile, a mere speck on the Pinellas County map.

Five decades later, Largo covers 15 square miles and boasts 70,000 residents. During that time, the Police Department grew to 124 sworn officers and an $11.2-million budget. It's a source of pride for a community that has worked to shed its reputation as a backwater in the shadows of Clearwater and St. Petersburg.

And so it was with some shock to city leaders and longtime residents like Attaway that Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice recently suggested the unthinkable: dismantle the Police Department and pay his office to patrol the city.

Most residents and community leaders interviewed for this story preferred to keep Largo's Police Department. A few believe Largo should at least hear the sheriff out, despite the reluctance to do so by city commissioners and the city manager.

"Hearing it out doesn't mean it is going to happen," said Patty Dyer, 28, a 12-year city resident.

William Hoelzle expressed similar sentiments in an e-mail to Mayor Bob Jackson.

"You and the commissioners, as a team, have the responsibility to provide the best governmental services for the least possible cost," he wrote.

Former Mayor Thomas "Thom" Feaster said the sheriff's office is well-run but argues against hiring the department.

"If I was mayor, I'd fight this to my death," said Feaster, who compared the situation to a choice between renting an apartment and owning a home.

A week and a half ago, Largo police Chief Jerry Bloechle announced plans to retire in October after 20 years with the department. He conceded the department's investigation into whether Largo officers had sex with members of the department's youth mentoring program had taken a personal toll.

The following day, Rice said the time had come for Largo residents to consider hiring his agency.

For Largo to make the switch, city commissioners would have to adopt an ordinance or residents would have to approve the change in a referendum. Largo police officers would most likely be offered positions with the sheriff's office, as long as they passed a background check and polygraph test.

It wasn't the first time Rice had suggested the switch.

He proposed the idea two years ago. Feaster still remembers the sheriff saying he could see Largo police headquarters from the roof of the sheriff's administration building on Ulmerton Road. Feaster and others rejected the idea.

Rice said contracting with his office would save the city as much as $4.5-million a year in law enforcement costs. City Manager Steve Stanton doesn't see a need for a contract. He said if the city disbanded its Police Department, sheriff's deputies would be obligated to provide law enforcement.

Rice acknowledged Stanton's point but insists a contract is needed to fairly compensate his office for patrolling Largo.

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office has 764 sworn officers and an annual budget of $65.7-million. Deputies patrol all unincorporated areas of the county, and the sheriff's office has contracts to patrol 11 other Pinellas communities, including the cities of Dunedin and Seminole.

With its 70,000 residents, Largo would be the most populous Pinellas city to contract with the county for law enforcement.

Former Largo High School teacher Martha Gibson initially opposed the idea of contracting with the sheriff. But after talking to friends in Dunedin, Gibson, who is plugged into Largo politics, softened her stance.

"I think I'm going to keep an open mind on it and just maybe hear just a little bit more of the information and not make such a quick decision," said Gibson, 68.

Milton Griffin also thinks Largo commissioners should hear the sheriff out. Griffin lives in a neighborhood where two-thirds of the homes are on county land, with the remainder in city limits. Griffin, 79, vice president of the Newport Homeowners Association, a neighborhood near Frontier Elementary School, said it is not logical for both police agencies to dispatch officers to his neighborhood when trouble arises.

"It does seem like a duplication of effort," he said.

Despite the recent upheaval within the Largo Police Department, most residents were unwilling to include the scandal in weighing which department should handle law enforcement duties in Largo.

"In spite of recent events, most people like the Police Department," said Bob Delack, president of the Largo Historical Society.

Mayor Jackson, who has been a city commissioner for 25 years, said city residents have always been proud of their Police Department. He believes those who do not agree with Rice's idea are speaking out of their feelings of uncertainty about having unfamiliar men and women patrolling their neighborhoods.

Still, Jackson expects some residents to speak in support of the sheriff's proposal at next Tuesday's City Commission meeting. Jackson, who remembers the dissension a similar debate brought to Largo in the late 1970s, said he is unwilling to consider such a proposal this time around unless there is a groundswell of support from his constituents.

"I think it would be incumbent on them to force a referendum," he said.

Delack believes the debate is a complicated issue, with politically costly results for Largo commissioners.

"Theoretically, it is probably a good idea to get the county under one department," he said. "But on the other hand, it is going to be hard to get any more towns to give up their police force."

-- Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

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