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Belleair police show new professionalism
© St. Petersburg Times, The Monday arrest of Belleair Mayor George Mariani on drunken driving charges is mentioned here not to try the case in the press -- Mariani has said he will fight the charge, and he is innocent unless found guilty -- and not to further embarrass him in what must have been a humiliating week. It is, instead, to praise the progress of a police department that in the past did not always conduct itself professionally. According to police reports, Belleair Officer Anthony Portman pulled over a Mercedes he saw weaving on Indian Rocks Road but didn't know it was the mayor until seeing Mariani's identification. Mariani, his wife and two friends were returning from a party in Clearwater Beach when Portman saw them about midnight Monday. Portman, 25, has worked for the Belleair department for two years, long enough to know that Mariani is one of the best-known residents in town. A few years ago, if Belleair's mayor had been stopped on suspicion of drinking and driving, the officer probably would have let him go or personally driven him home. The department was known for doing favors for influential people around town. But that didn't happen Monday, and that is a tribute to Portman's judgment and training. Portman treated Mariani as he would someone without name recognition. He administered a field sobriety test, which Mariani failed, according to police. He officially noted Mariani's physical appearance, an important piece of information when prosecuting such a case. And then he arrested Mariani and sent him off to the Pinellas County Jail, where Mariani spent the night before being released the next morning on $250 bail. To Mariani's credit, he did not mention during the incident that he is mayor and he did not request special treatment. For the professional handling of a potentially sensitive case we can thank not just the officer who made the arrest but also Chief George Harmansky, who has been busy cleaning up problems in the tiny department since he arrived in July 2000. Harmansky himself revealed the whispers he heard about the department when he became chief: allegations of ticket fixing, improper sexual activity, sloppy record-keeping, outdated equipment and poor training. Harmansky's no-nonsense style is what the department needed if the community was determined to keep it and not consolidate with another, larger department. Harmansky has improved the officers' training and set a high standard of behavior that he expects his officers to meet. Portman met that standard Monday when he demonstrated that those suspected of breaking the law in Belleair will be neither coddled nor excused, no matter what their name or station in the community.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times North Pinellas desks |
