Pinellas Police Standards Council Pinellas Park High School Criminal Justice Academy 6305-118 th Avenue Largo, Florida 1. Call to Order Chairman Rick Stelljes Agenda: February 11, 2015 8:30 AM 2. Approval of PPSC Minutes Draft Attached 3. Host Comments: Pinellas Park High School Assistant Principal Casandra Cummings will welcome the Council to the Criminal Justice Academy 4. PASS Update Director Waters 5. Committee Reports Legislative Committee Chief Dorene Thomas Training Dean Brian Frank Standards Review Committee Chief Robert Vincent Finance Chief Bill Sohl LE Radio and User Group Director Jackie Weinreich
LE Information Systems and Analysis Director Mike Cooksey Homeland Security Corporal Ernie Armistead 6. New Business 7. Old Business 8. Roundtable 9. Adjourn Next Meeting Wednesday, March 11, 2015 8:30 AM Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council 4000 Gateway Centre Boulevard, Suite 100 Pinellas Park, Florida
Pinellas Police Standards Council Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council 4000 Gateway Centre Boulevard, Suite 100 Pinellas Park, Florida Agenda: January 14, 2015 8:30 AM 1. Call to Order Chairman Rick Stelljes Chief Stelljes welcomed Pasco County Sheriff s Office Lieutenant Tait Sanborn to the Council meeting. Chief Stelljes gave tribute to Tarpon Springs Police Officer Charles Charlie K Kondek who lost his life in the line of duty December 21, 2014. Chief Stelljes congratulated Pinellas Park Police Chief Dorene Thomas on her announced retirement (April 24, 2015) and also congratulated Assistant Chief Michael Haworth on his appointment as Pinellas Park Police Chief upon Chief Thomas retirement. 2. Approval of PPSC Minutes Motion by Chief Thomas and Chief Sohl The Council unanimously approved the December 10, 2014 PPSC Minutes. 3. Guests 4. PASS Update Director Waters Director Waters stated that a review of the PASS Activity Report for the year 2014 showed a marked decrease in the average amount of time to complete a PASS investigation from previous years. Director Waters attributed the decrease to the initiation of the POBITS investigative tracking system in 2014 and the quality work being performed by the PASS investigative staff. An additional item to note was that although receiving slightly less applicants for the year 2014 than previous years, the applicants hired ratio was significantly higher than previous years (see attached PASS Activity Report). Director Waters advised that the next scheduled meeting of the Pinellas County Legislative Delegation is set for February 24, 2015 at the USF St. Petersburg Campus
Administrative Building WMN 200 from 0900 to 1200 hours. Director Waters provided a handout denoting the announced meeting and a guest speaker submission form. Director Waters, as a follow up to last month s discussion regarding consideration of a potential sliding scale fee contribution by the Council members, handed out a template for consideration that utilized the framework of the small, medium and large agency grouping commissioned by the Florida Police Chiefs Association (see attached template). The Council approved the format of the template and asked Chief Stelljes, Chief Sohl and Director Waters to provide a monetary figure for each TBA listing within the approved template by the February 11, 2015 PPSC meeting for Council consideration. Director Waters asked to change the scheduled PPSC meeting date of Wednesday November 11, 2015 to Wednesday, November 4, 2015 and the Council was in full agreement. Director Waters advised the meeting location did not changed and will still be at the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Director Waters stated he would send out an e-mail confirmation reflecting the updated PPSC 2015 Meeting Schedule. 5. Committee Reports Legislative Committee Chief Thomas Chief Thomas cautioned the Council to remain vigil for Legislative debate regarding the use of body cameras for law enforcement officers. She said that in addition to the HB57 mentioned during last month s meeting, a companion bill in the Senate (SB248) has now been filed by Senator Christopher Smith. Training Dean Brian Frank Dean Frank reminded the Council of the police academy graduation set for tonight (1/14/15) at the St. Petersburg Allstate Center Campus. He also reminded the Council of the Region 9 meeting scheduled for Thursday, January 15, 2015 at the Allstate Center. Standards Review Committee Chief Vincent Chief Vincent announced that there are four candidate appeals (3 law enforcement and 1 corrections) to be heard immediately following the meeting. Finance Chief Sohl No Report LE Radio and User Group Director Jackie Weinreich Director Waters advised that Director Weinreich was unable to attend but wished the following information relayed: In regard to last month s PPSC meeting inquiry about Pinellas County units access to Hillsborough County s radio system, Director Weinreich stated the radio vendor, Communications International, is currently adding Pinellas County to the radio system and should have this completed by the end of the January 14 th work week. She advised that Hillsborough County has had access to Pinellas County radio system for several months but up until this week, only the Pinellas County Vice & Narcotics units had access to the Hillsborough County radio system.
Director Weinreich stated that the Pinellas County radio system has experienced an intermittent drop in audio due to switch configurations and this issue was corrected late last week. She advised that Motorola has sent a team of technicians to Pinellas County to review and test all systems to ensure 100% reliability. LE Information Systems and Analysis Director Mike Cooksey Operations Manager Deborah Berry said they were examining the use of the Web Enforcer system because it was in need of a significant and costly upgrade and she wanted to know if it was being used by the agencies and a good expenditure of the counties money. She said she would be looking at the use data and sending out some questions to the agencies. Manger Berry stated she would sincerely appreciate agency input on the Web Enforcer system. Homeland Security Corporal Armistead No Report 6. New Business None 7. Old Business Chief Stelljes advised that according to their SRO arrest review data, arrests for the month of December are down 71% compared to the same time last year. He advised there were 186 total arrests for the entire school year representing a 41% decrease compared to the same time last year. Chief Stelljes attributed the decrease to significantly more disorderly conduct and drug related incidents being deferred to assistance programs. Chief Stelljes is hopeful this change will have a positive impact not only on the affected individuals but also the overall community. Sheriff Gualtieri advised that since the Council approved the initiation of a centralized weekly K9 schedule of all Pinellas County law enforcement agencies to be hosted by his agency (PPSC approved in September 2014); there has been a less than desirable response of agencies submitting their weekly K9 schedules. Sheriff Gualtieri reiterated the benefit of having a centralized K9 weekly work schedule list for all Pinellas County law enforcement agencies to access. The members were in full agreement and advised that they would ensure that any communication breakdown would be rectified. Sheriff Gualtieri provided his agency s contact person as: Sergeant Randy Corlett rcorlett@pcsonet.com Cell: 727-647-2159 Office: 727-556-6364 8. Roundtable Chief Investigator Doyle Jourdan brought up the recent e-mail distributed by the Tampa Bay Chiefs Association regarding a letter State Attorney McCabe sent to Sheriff Chris Nocco on December 14, 2014 addressing the Pasco County Sheriff s Office recent implementation of officer worn body cameras. Chief Investigator Jordan stated that State Attorney McCabe wanted the Council to know his communication was directly with Sheriff Chris Nocco and any mass distribution of this letter was done without his
knowledge or consent. It should be noted that on January 15, 2014, the Tampa Bay Chiefs Association issued an e-mail clarifying that their distribution of State Attorney McCabe s letter was performed not at the request of State Attorney McCabe. Chief Vincent provided an update to his August PPSC presentation regarding the endorsement process used by the Florida Police Chiefs Association for potential election endorsements of gubernatorial candidates and cabinet appointments. He advised that possible revisions to the endorsement process were discussed at this week s Florida Police Chiefs Association Winter Conference but it was tabled until the Summer Conference to allow more membership feedback. FDLE SAC Rick Ramirez bought attention to the recent change within the executive leadership of FDLE. He advised that Rick Swearingen was appointed as commissioner of FDLE, Donald Ladner is the assistant commissioner for investigations and forensic science services and Jennifer Cook Pritt is the assistant commissioner for public safety services, which includes external and legislative affairs. SAC Ramirez stated that his Tampa Office looks forward to working with the new executive leadership. Chief Holloway announced that he has been voted President of the Tampa Bay Area Chiefs of Police Association (TBACA) for 2015. He advised that the TBACA will focus this year on facilitating training topics to benefit the Tampa Bay law enforcement community. Captain Jeff Young stated that on behalf of Chief Kochen, the Tarpon Springs Police Department and the City of Tarpon Springs communities, he wished to thank the Tampa Bay law enforcement community for their acts of kindness and fellowship during the recent tragic death of Officer Charles Charlie K Kondek. He stated words cannot express the overwhelming support by agencies such as the Pinellas County Sheriff s Office, St. Petersburg Police Department, Clearwater Police Department and all the participating agencies for their acts of kindness. Captain Young said the Tarpon Springs Police Department will forever be grateful and although they will never forget Officer Charles Kondek, they will move forward in his honor. 9. Adjourn Chief Stelljes and Chief Thomas Next Meeting Wednesday, February 11, 2015 8:30 AM Pinellas Park High School Criminal Justice Academy 6305-118 th Avenue Largo, Florida