Tampa Is…?

Well, he is free on $250 bail, but Walsh Ian Nichols, who likes to dress up like Batman and hang around clubs in Ybor City was arrested last week.  He was charged with “wearing hood on street” and not having a valid motorcycle license.

Wearing a hood in public has been a law on the books in Tampa since 1951, initially designed to thwart members of the Ku Kl ux Klan from sporting their regalia in public.  Similar to Elliott Ness finally nailing Al Capone on tax evasion, Tampa’s untouchables defeated ra cism once and for all by legislating hats. It’s still in effect today and is usually used against criminals who wear masks while committing felonies like armed robbery.

As far as Batman goes, Nichols resembles Adam West more than Christian Bale. He just doesn’t look like the relentless, grim vigilante who’s committed his life to the eradication of evil. But he also doesn’t look like a threat to public safety either.

Why does Nichols feel the need to dress up like Batman and patrol the streets of Ybor?

Who cares?

The point is, do we want to live in a city… a world, where there can’t be a Batman? There are plenty of warped individuals out there who follow their dark, twisted obsessions intent on doing us harm. Can’t we have just one who follows his with the intent of serving the public good, even if that just means high-fiving and posing for photos with tourists?

(Cross posted at Ridiculous trickle of consciousness)

In the name of SECURITY, you will now be groped at all Buccaneers games at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium, even though these pat-downs don’t work.

In the name of SECURITY, x-ray photos of you will be taken at the Tampa Airport beginning next Friday, even though these create images of you virtually nude.

Don’t that make you feel secure?

Which is worse, driving drunk or letting a cop get away with driving drunk?

The St. Pete Times article asks: Did deputy show favoritism to fellow lawmen? I say yes.

As Sgt. John Daniels pulled up, the passenger stood outside the Dodge’s door, urinating. The driver admitted he had been drinking and declined a breath test.

The two men were Pasco sheriff’s deputies. Daniels let them go without so much as a ticket.

LEO allowing other LEO to get away with possibly impaired driving is nothing new.  Hell they don’t even give each other traffic tickets (explain that to your insurance company).  It’s called “professional courtesy.”

And it’s a load of crap.

Pasco Sheriff’s Deputies arrested Tallie Gainer III for check fraud.  He didn’t do it.  The real criminal used Gainer’s name, but left his own thumbprint on the bad check.

Eight months passed before the Pasco Sheriff’s Office decided to compare the thumbprint to Gainer’s.

EIGHT freakin’ MONTHS.

In the meantime, Gainer and his wife missed work to attend court. He lost his deposit on a real estate deal. His savings dried up. And he lost his chance to bid on a laundromat.

So he’s rightly suing the Sheriff.  And your tax money will pay.

Sure wish there was something we could do about that.

You will remember the quadriplegic dumped from his wheelchair.

According to an independent panel, it was  an “anomaly” — a shocking moment uncharacteristic of the overall detention system.

American Civil Liberties Union of Florida board member Lorie Fridell was on the panel:

“We are well-known for calling it like we see it, and we are well-known for looking at government power and making sure that it is used appropriately,” she said. “I stand by this report.”

Use of force at Hillsborough County jails:

In a 41-month period from January 2005 to May 2008, 247,999 people were booked into Hillsborough jails.

During that time:

• There were 1,720 reported incidents in which deputies used force against inmates.
• There were 17 investigations into inmate allegations of unnecessary or excessive force. Four of those were sustained and disciplinary action taken.
• A Taser was used six times.
• The average detention deputy used force 3.28 times.
• A group of 20 deputies was involved in 19.5 percent of all reported “use-of-force” incidents. All but two of those were assigned to Central Booking.

Source: Final Report of the Independent Review Commission on Hillsborough County Jails. The report can be found online at: http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/IRCoJ/FinalRpt-Book090908.pdf

The report also includes 40 recommendations to improve the processes at Hillsborough county jails.

Former Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Lawson is in Vermont, serving a 15 year prison sentence for sexually abusing young men.  Lawson used his authority as a cop to “examine” his victims.  According to the St. Pete Times, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) knew Lawson was doing creepy things on May 16, 2002.

Between midnight and 2am on May 31, 2002, Deputy Lawson suggested to at least three people that he was looking for some car-chasing action.  A VW Passat passed by, and Lawson gave chase in his unmarked Crown Victoria.  Lawson chased the Passat for 15.8 miles, at speeds averaging 105 mph (one witness estimated 120 mph at one point).

The Passat left the road, and crashed into a tree, injuring 18 year old driver Adam Jacoby, and killing 16 year old passenger Miles White.  A local patrolman, Officer Robert Platts, pulled up and helped Lawson pull the injured Jacoby from the wreck.  Before accident investigators arrived, the Crown Vic was gone.

Seeing Lawson on news reports, someone recognized him as the cop that had done an “exam” on her son, and called PCSO.  Lawson was arrested, and he resigned from the force.

Meanwhile, PCSO accident investigators never really looked closely at Lawson’s possible role in the accident.  Polk County Commissioners asked if they could trust the PCSO to investigate itself, and you can guess how that worked out.

Thankfully, St. Pete Times reporter Meg Laughlin did not let this go.  She refused to  just accept the PCSO result as the truth.  Check out the multimedia special report:  Right By Miles:

Two teenage boys are in a car chase with a reckless, sexually perverted Polk County sheriff’s deputy. The boys crash, killing Miles White, 16. But the sheriff’s office does not investigate its deputy’s involvement. Why?

The St. Pete Times thinks that Lawson’s Crown Vic may have caught up to the Passat, and BUMPED it off the road.  In fact, a PCSO in-house newsletter states that Miles White was killed after being struck by a car driven by Lawson.  The Times also found several inconsistencies on various reports and investigations, including downright lies on Lawson’s report.

Furthermore, crash investigator Detective David Hooyman later testified that he “was instructed by my supervisors at the sheriff’s department not to conduct an interview with Lawson.”

In the end, the sheriff’s office determined that Lawson played no role in the accident but violated department policy by breaking traffic laws and not identifying himself as an officer.

In encourage you to read the entire story: Why didn’t Polk Co. Sheriff’s Office investigate deputy’s role in crash?

Oh, and wonder what kind of (and how many) coverups are going on with your local government agencies.

St. Pete Times Editorial - Tampa’s firefighters are asking too much

Tampa Tribune Editorial -  City Council That Won’t Say No Falls Over Self To Spend Even More:

Mayor Pam Iorio offered the [firefighters'] union a 6.5 percent average raise, a generous offer in tough economic times. Even a magistrate who scrutinized the impasse said the city’s offer was fair and in the public’s best interest.

But the union wanted an average 10 percent increase and so brought its case to a bigger body of politicians, the city council.

All seven members caved.

Led by tax-and-spend liberals John Dingfelder and Mary Mulhern, the council gave firefighters what amounts to a 9.5 percent annual increase.

… Their largesse will cost taxpayers an extra $730,000 this fiscal year, and an extra $2.2 million if the contract is extended to two years.

And they call this a compromise?

No wonder property-tax statements that recently hit area homes show so little downward movement. The city’s bleeding-heart council has never met a spending proposal it didn’t like. The only time it has said no was when former councilman Shawn Harrison suggested a tax cut. The city had too many unmet needs, members cried at the time.

Taxpayers will be hit hard by the council’s capitulation because word is out that if the mayor shows fiscal restraint in negotiations - a stance for which she will pay a political price - unions should appeal to city council, where anything goes.

…  Tampa’s city council has demonstrated an appalling lack of concern for the financial burden it places on taxpayers. Only Councilman Charlie Miranda seemed to understand that the city cannot afford to keep boosting salaries to unrealistic levels. But given how the others were leaning, Miranda made the vote unanimous. A protest vote would have been preferable.

Dingfelder and Mulhern fail to understand that times are tough. Residents are struggling to make ends meet. Private sector jobs are disappearing. So are tax revenues. Tampa’s recurring property tax-revenues have dropped $28 million over the past two years.

Yet council shot down the mayor’s attempt to kill a convoluted step-plan pay system that in addition to a merit pay increase, gives firefighters a second raise of between 1.2 percent and 19.5 percent a year based on seniority.

Know anyone in the private sector getting that kind of boost?

Council members only wanted to applaud the firefighters, as Councilman Joe Caetano did, for “working their butt off.”

Taxpayers also work their butt off and are struggling to endure a devastating economic downtown. They don’t have time to pack council chambers like the firefighters did. They deserved better.

Instead, council members recklessly inflated the city’s financial obligations to curry favor with a union whose endorsement, as Dingfelder bluntly put it, “we love” to get “on our campaign literature.”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how government works.

To get the endorsement of a politically powerful union, Dingfelder, Mulhern and the bunch picked your pocket.

The next election for Tampa City Council is not until 2011.  All seven of them assume (and hope) you will forget this by then.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how government works.”

Other Links:

• Tampa City Council
• Tampa Firefighters

Tampa Police Chief Stephen Hogue says Tampa’s crime rate dropped 12 percent in the first six months of 2008 compared with last year.

During the first six months of this year, 9,126 offenses were reported in seven crime categories, 12 percent less than the 10,367 reported in these categories from January to June 2007.

The biggest statistical drop was in reported sex offenses, which declined 28.6 percent.

Murders declined 15.8 percent, motor-vehicle thefts fell 19.3 percent and aggravated assaults declined 18.6 percent, robberies dropped 16.1 percent, larcenies fell 11.1 percent and burglaries declined 5.1 percent.

Hogue credited the drop in crime not only to his officers, but to residents who join Neighborhood Crime Watch groups or perform independent “community policing” when they notice suspicious activity.