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The dispatcher did not relay to an officer that there were prior harassment complaints, police said.
By ERIC STIRGUS
© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2001
LARGO -- A day after police admitted they did not investigate a racially motivated death threat against a KFC restaurant manager, police Chief Lester Aradi said Tuesday that the department will conduct an internal review of how officers handled the situation to avoid similar errors in the future.
"The Largo Police Department dropped the ball on this," Aradi said. "But we have every intention of picking it up and running with it."
KFC workers called Largo police on three separate occasions last week to complain about a man who urged employees to kill African-Americans. In the third incident, the man threatened to kill the "n----- manager," witnesses say.
A different officer was dispatched to the Walsingham Road restaurant each time after calls from frightened employees, who gave officers a detailed description of the man and wrote what they believed was his license plate number.
Despite the information, no police report was filed and witness statements were not taken, police said.
Police did not start their investigation until Monday after inquiries by the St. Petersburg Times.
Police said they intended to question the man, whom they would not identify, Tuesday afternoon. Police spokesman Mac McMullen said late Tuesday that he did not know whether the man, who police say has a violent criminal record, had been interviewed. Police have talked to the man's probation officer, but McMullen declined to discuss details of that conversation.
Aradi said police will work with prosecutors to determine possible criminal charges.
"Whatever criminal charges we can bring, we will bring," Aradi said. "Clearly, this is unacceptable behavior."
Officials said part of the blame lies with a police dispatcher who did not relay to an officer that there were prior harassment complaints from that location, officials said.
"It was perceived as three different situations," said City Manager Steven Stanton, who has been in contact with command staff to get details about the case. "The officer wasn't aware of the other calls. There should have been some follow-through."
Aradi was on vacation Tuesday, but he has been briefed by police supervisors about the case. He agreed with department supervisors that filing charges against the man in the first two situations would have been difficult because he did not make specific threats against anyone. However, the chief acknowledged that once the man threatened the manager Saturday, an investigation should have started.
"Any time you make a threat against a person, you've crossed the line," he said.
Police declined to discuss in detail why a report was not filed Saturday.
In addition to replaying how the case progressed, police supervisors will also talk to officers about showing greater sensitivity when someone makes racially charged threats, Stanton said.
"It is the essence of community policing," said Stanton.
Police have also been in touch with employees of a McDonald's near the KFC who say the man has made racially insensitive statements to employees there that could constitute a criminal offense. Police gave McDonald's staffers a photo of the man, asking them to call if anyone else there had an encounter with him.
Meanwhile, Aradi said he plans to visit the KFC manager next week to express the department's regrets about how police handled the encounters.
"We owe her an apology," he said.