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Taylor leaves Police Department
By AMY HERDY © St. Petersburg Times, published September 2, 2000 TAMPA -- Deputy Police Chief Ken Taylor turned in his badge and gun Friday and walked away from a 35-year career. Taylor's resignation came the same day the St. Petersburg Times disclosed that he lacked the educational qualifications required for his position, despite having assured police Chief Bennie Holder three years ago that he had met them. Holder said he gave Taylor the choice to retire or be suspended with pay pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation. "I'm very sorry to see his career end in a cloud," Holder said, but he did not hide his disenchantment. "I'm very hurt and disappointed that he wasn't upfront with me." It was a stunning fall for Taylor, who will be 58 later this month. Many observers of city politics thought Taylor's long, close relationship with Mayor Dick Greco had made him untouchable. Greco, who said he conferred with Taylor repeatedly Thursday and Friday, expressed his regret over the circumstances in which his friend was retiring, but said he supported Holder's decision. "It's hurtful to me, and I've lost sleep over this one," Greco said. "But the chief runs the department. I don't tell him what to do." Taylor hesitated with his decision, Greco said, but the mayor urged his friend to retire. "I said, "Kenny, don't second guess it, just go.' " Known for an often combative personality, an unusually complacent Taylor told reporters Friday afternoon that he was at peace with his decision. He continued to defend his conduct. "Had I really believed I did something wrong, I'd be agonizing over this," Taylor said as he cleaned out his department-issued Ford Crown Victoria. "But since I sincerely know I didn't, why be agonizing over it?" Since 1994, Holder has required officers with the rank of captain or above to have a four-year college degree. Taylor's education consists of two two-year associate's degrees and a certification to be a funeral director in North Carolina. The Times found two resumes and a letter in Taylor's personnel file that indicated he had a bachelor of arts degree in education. In fact, as Taylor acknowledged to the Times earlier this week, he dropped out of the education program at the University of South Florida in 1977. Fraudulently claiming to have an academic degree is a first-degree misdemeanor. Holder said he could not comment on that aspect of the investigation. "We'll gather all the facts and see what we can prove or disprove," he said. "If I had known he didn't (have a degree), I never would have promoted him." Taylor said that someone else compiled his resumes and that he never claimed to have a degree in education. He said the confusion over whether he had a degree concerned his certification in mortuary science from a now defunct North Carolina business school, although he could not produce any transcripts from the program. Taylor told the Times earlier this week that he had not reviewed his personnel file in years and was unaware that the resumes, dated 1978 and 1981, stated he had a degree in education. Nor had he read a letter from former Tampa police Chief Clayton Briggs dated Feb. 28, 1979, he said, that stated Taylor had a degree in education. (The letter sought to further Taylor's training through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.) On Friday, Taylor changed his statement on whether he had looked in his file. He said he had in fact reviewed his personnel file in the early '90s and corrected an index card he found at the time that wrongly stated he had a degree in education. "I crossed it out, and wrote, "attended,' " Taylor said. "I think it shows integrity that I did that." He said he never saw the other documents referring to a degree. Taylor, who earned $96,990 a year, will receive an annual pension of 87.5 percent of his pay, or $84,866. That fact angered retired Tampa police Maj. Ed Fryrear, who said other officers were passed over for promotions that Taylor received because he misrepresented his education. "While the rest of us were out there working all night long and staying in school at the same time, Ken Taylor was reaping the benefits," Fryrear said. "It was a common joke among the rank and file that if you wanted to count a funeral parlor certificate as a four-year degree, you could." Holder declined to discuss Taylor's pension. Holder promoted Taylor to deputy chief in 1995. Had Taylor remained a major -- the rank he had before his promotion -- his pension would be about $70,000 a year. Taylor said that he earned every promotion he had received and that neither claiming to have a college degree nor being friends with Greco played a part in his career. "Different chiefs looked at my resume, looked at my knowledge, skills and decided to promote me," he said. "Different chiefs, and different mayors." - Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3386 or herdy@sptimes.com
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