Dear Commissioners,
As your former chief of police of the High Springs Police Department (HSPD) and advocate for quality law enforcement, I must bring to your attention an issue that will have great impact on the department and community if allowed to continue.
With your recent action of taking back the dispatch services, something in my professional opinion is one of the worst decisions ever made, your inept police chief under the leadership of an inexperienced city manager is now considering hiring people to assume the duties of police dispatcher at the HSPD.
Two of the applicants who are at the top of the list were former HSPD employees and were either dismissed for just cause or left in lieu of termination. The names of these people have been provided to me by very concerned HSPD employees who are afraid to voice their concern for fear of retaliation from the chief, manager, mayor and vice mayor.
I would like you to direct the manager to ensure only well qualified and unsullied applicants are selected and that the existing policies to hire these employees be followed. That would include a formal application process, interviews, drug test, background check, polygraph, psychological and physical exam.
It is unfortunate that the first acts of the chief and manager concerning the dispatch center are to go backwards and fill the vacancies with cronies, ones who are unqualified and who will never be able to provide the same level of service or professionalism that you are currently receiving from the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office Combined Communication Center (ACSO CCC).
I must admit that I still cannot believe Mayor Davis, Vice Mayor Barnas and Commissioner Gestrin voted to allow the change after being presented with all of the testimony, documented increased costs and pleas from your officers not to change the services.
What is most troubling is why the three aforementioned commissioners are so bound and determined to have a subpar and unprofessional level of service in High Springs?
One may understand if there was going to be a huge cost savings, but in this case it is much more expensive, maybe even double the cost of what you are paying now. By the way, where is the extra money going to come from to fund this new section?
One may understand, if in addition to a great cost savings, that the employees would have state-of-the-art equipment and the ability to electronically handle calls like the ACSO CCC, but as you all know that is not the case as you are going to have a fraction of the equipment and will never have the E911 software and hardware to increase your operational efficiency.
Finally, one should consider that you are going to be paying much more and will not have more than one dispatcher working per shift. When you contracted services at the ACSO CCC, staffing was never an issue as they had lots of employees and supervisors working every shift.
All you have to do is look at the documentation I have generated, the testimony from your officers, not the chief who still has yet to answer Commissioner Jamison’s question if he believes the staffing he proposed is adequate, and the actual failures of the center during the High Springs Community School shooting, the beating of retired HSPD Sergeant Hines, and countless other incidents where the HSPD was unable to provide services to more than one caller.
If you truly believe the newly proposed plan of action is going to work, I ask you to publically hold a demonstration and use a scenario that I have developed to test your system.
viagra no prescription
With one dispatcher and two officers at their disposal, a car crash with obvious injuries and road block occurs at Main Street and U.S. 441 at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday morning. It is clear and relatively warm. One witness and one driver make 911 calls to the ACSO CCC. At the same time, one driver and another witness make calls to 454-1415, the line most citizens use to call for emergency and non-emergency matters. One minute after the first crash call is made to 911, a physical fight breaks out in the Winn Dixie parking lot between a man and a woman. Two people call 911 and one person calls 454-1415 to report that the woman is being beaten and needs immediate law enforcement assistance.
If this outcome does not change your mind, nothing will, and I urge the citizens of High Springs to vote out the three commissioners who permitted the change and allowed such a dangerous service to be used in the City of High Springs.
Although it would be easy for me to join the majority of the community and begin laughing at the comedy of errors, actions and decisions made by the majority of the commission, city manager and police chief, I must remain above the fray and once again urge Commissioners Barnas, Gestrin and Mayor Davis to reconsider your vote (only one of you need to do this) and do what is right for our community, our officers and the reputation of High Springs. Please do not allow the necessity of changing addresses, something that needs to be accomplished anyway, cloud your judgment and responsibilities.
Lives and the effective operation of law enforcement services in High Springs depend on someone stepping up to the plate and hitting the ball out of the park. I know each of you can do this, but will you set an example and help the community before it is too late?
viagra no prescription
viagra no prescription
