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Inquiry takes pulse of officers
By LEANORA MINAI and BRYAN GILMER ST. PETERSBURG -- One by one, police officers filed into the mayor's suite Friday and gave their account of what police Chief Mack Vines said the day he likened the actions of an arrested black man to an "orangutan." What do you recall? Were you offended? First Deputy Mayor Tish Elston asked each of the 30 officers during 10-minute interviews. "I did not attach any kind of racial connotation to it," Sgt. Mike Puetz said outside City Hall after he met with Elston. "It was after the meeting that I started to hear some comments. I talked to a couple of officers who suggested that they recognized a connotation to it." By the middle of next week, when the investigation likely will be completed, Mayor Rick Baker will decide what, if any, discipline is in order. Asked Friday if he still supports Vines, Baker offered a lukewarm endorsement. "Yeah," said Baker, who appointed Vines three months ago. "He's continuing to be our police chief. He's our police chief today." For his part, Vines on Friday acknowledged some loneliness. "The chief's position itself is a very lonely position," said Vines, who spent Friday talking to residents and City Council members. "There's only one chief, and when you have situations like this, it makes it even much more confining and a lonely position, but you have to get through it." Vines made the orangutan remark during a meeting Dec. 4 with nearly 40 detectives in police headquarters. He was talking about police discipline and use of force when he said it might be necessary, in some instances, for as many as four officers to restrain a suspect who is acting like an orangutan. Several officers in the room thought Vines was talking about a black man accused of ramming a police cruiser with a truck April 24 when officers arrested him on drug charges. Four officers took part in the arrest. Controversy over Vines' remark comes as some African-American residents have raised concerns that the Police Department is more heavy-handed and less respectful under Vines than it was under former chief Goliath Davis III. Some black residents say additional officers have been assigned to patrol their neighborhoods. But snapshots of 24-hour police staffing statistics, provided by the Police Department on Friday, reveal that since October Vines has not assigned more officers in those communities. "We deploy people based on calls for service and needs and day and time," said Vines, who took office Oct. 5. In fact, Sharon Russ, a spokeswoman for the Bartlett Park Neighborhood Association, lauded Vines in a memo Friday to city officials. "We, as a neighborhood, have finally started to see the laws enforced in our area of late, which we sorely need in our drug-infested neighborhood," wrote Russ, who is black. "Please understand that many African-Americans who live south side want their neighborhoods cleaned up and safe for their children, and we trust Chief Vines to provide the support and equitable justice to aid our cause." Still, a handful of recent incidents between officers and black residents have left some community leaders fearful that police tactics have taken a step backward. One incident involved a black youth whose lawyer says he suffered a broken finger, a fractured pelvis and multiple abrasions during a scuffle with police. Maj. Cedric Gordon, who supervises patrol officers in predominantly black neighborhoods, said he has heard complaints of officers being impolite and disrespectful. But Gordon could not cite examples. "I'm not saying that it's true or that it's not true," Gordon said. "I'm saying that's what people are saying. That's their perception, and when that's their perception, in many cases, people react like it's a reality. "There are a lot of things that may or may not be occurring that you really can't enumerate," Gordon said. "How people treat somebody doesn't necessarily always generate a complaint." Rick Stelljes, the department spokesman and the assistant chief of patrol under Davis, said he also has heard of concerns about increased police presence in black neighborhoods. "There's been a lot of talk going around in the African-American community about this uneasy feeling," Stelljes said. "So now, whenever two officers pull up on a corner, they think, "Why does it take two officers to do this particular call?' Well, we've been sending two officers to domestic quarrels for years." Elston, the first deputy mayor who is leading the investigation into Vines' remark, said Friday she is not asking officers about broader concerns, but instead is confining her questions to the "orangutan" incident. She said the officers' statements have presented a consistent picture of what Vines said, though she declined to discuss specifics. She met with Vines late Friday but later refused to comment on whether his job is in jeopardy. "I told him this was a very serious issue," Elston said. "And I think he understands that." Baker also has called this "a serious time" for St. Petersburg. Baker, who called Vines "one of the most dedicated, talented and experienced police professionals in the United States" upon his hiring in September, said he has not spoken to the police chief since Tuesday. That's when Baker, Elston and the employee relations manager sat down with Vines after learning of the orangutan comment. "If he had asked to talk to me, I would," Baker said. "If I felt I had something I needed to talk to him about, I would. There is no reason I feel I shouldn't talk to him." -- Times staff writer Leonora LaPeter contributed to this report. Staff writer Leanora Minai can be reached at minai@sptimes.com or (727) 893-8406.
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