Oct 2004

Good morning Mayor,

Watched a little of your meeting last night on the news, wish I had been there.

It would appear that your police chief Delsa Bush has run the course. I have been saying that she was not up to the task from start and her recent non actions have proven my point. She is out of touch with the real world and needs to quietly step back into the department. Her admitted inability is very clear combined with the fact that she uses the excuse that: “she inherited the problem.”

Following in Ric Bradshaw's footsteps she has continued more of the same attitude that we had when he was running the department. Crack heads and dealers are running rampant in this city while the chief looks the other way.

If she would stop playing with the pins on her map and get out and see what’s going on, she would have a better chance of cleaning up the streets.

The City needs to jump all over the State Attorney Barry Krischer and get serious about putting people in jail. His swinging door policy is beyond belief!

The Chief is not letting her officers do their job, mainly arrest people! We have laws pertaining to the parks and city streets ie: illegal parking, trespassing, dealing or using drugs, unlawful gatherings... go look at how many tickets have been issued for these offenses in the last five years. You might find one or two. So, who is not doing their job?

She claims that her undercover officers can’t buy drugs from the dealers. Not surprised as she lets them run all over the city without any fear of being arrested. Any seasoned officer knows that if you can’t get them one way, you try another. Cars are not searched, homes are not confiscated... a simple trespassing summons puts them in the system, from there it’s a lot easier to find out what’s going on.

A good place to start: get the illegal cars off the streets! This is how the dealers get around. Tickets are money, cite them, fine them, confiscate cars and SUV’s. Simple process. No license, no registration, no insurance, safety issues, etc. All just cause.

The moral in the department, admitted or not is very low. Many officers I talk too can’t stand her stupidity or lack of support. All they want to do is get the shift over and go home. These people are not going to put their lives on the line if they know the Chief and your administration are not standing behind them.

I spoke to a detective two weeks ago, told him I had a list of car tags for dealers and runners along with addresses for the local crack houses. He informed me that he would let me know if he could use it. Never heard back. How lazy is this department and its leadership. Our 5 year long problem with the city parks is growing and no one, including you seems to care. Why is that? I'm sending everything I have to FDLE and the Attorney General for the State of Florida. I bet they will find someone to utilize the information.

A dealer shows up in a $65,000 Hummer or Escalade with $10,000 dollars worth of chrome wheels, vehicles that could easily be confiscated and funds used to fight crime... and you can’t get the police department to even look at the problem.

You and I butt heads and I complain a lot, I have reason too. My property values are stagnant because of the crack heads in Chillingsworth Park. The bottom line is we can disagree on political views but when it comes to safety, drugs and the image of WPB being projected to the rest of the world, YOU need to get serious. Part of being Mayor is running the city and its managers. The Chief is a manager and like it or not, she has to be replaced. It’s business, pure and simple. You are the CEO, it all flows up the top. Her inability reflects on you and your administration.

The department is way underfunded and that is part of the problem, however, it does not excuse her lack of enforcing the laws. The rest of us have to follow the rules... why not the crack heads?

The issue of underfunding is something that is going to have to be addressed sooner rather than later. We need more officers! There is no getting around it. With all the new people moving in, the expansion of the city (by miles) has stretched the department pretty thin. Adding more officers does not mean we have a problem (we do) however, you have to serve the folks who are paying taxes and are part of the city. One car covering several square miles is not enough.

The Chief is a nice lady, but her management skills are seriously impaired. She didn’t surround herself with people who can get the job done. You have Art and the young lady, whose name I always forget, good folks who work tirelessly to keep the city moving. Politics is one thing, being politically correct is another, but when murders, drugs, etc, keep the city in the headlines, it’s time for you to step up. Not to mention keeping property values down.

It’s just a matter of time before a gun battle between residents and crack dealers makes the front page of the Post or the lead story on the 6 o'clock news. The police let these losers beat up a family man and get away with it... you can’t let that keep happening.

It’s time to act!

JM