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Sheriff's Foe Is Disputing Crime Reports

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By LISA A. DAVIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 7, 2008

  Robert Sullivan

HUDSON - While on the campaign trail, Pasco Sheriff Bob White has boasted about the agency's crime-clearance rate, saying it's about 32 percent, far above the nation's average of just below 20 percent.

But Republican challenger Robert Sullivan, a former agency lieutenant who retired in the fall, said Wednesday that the number is artificially inflated.

Initially, Sullivan said, he was wowed by the rate at which sheriff's office cases were being resolved.

"At first I was impressed with sheriff's 32 percent clearance rate; now I simply don't believe it," he said.

Sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll said Sullivan's accusations are false.

"Our clearance rates are due to good investigations and hard work," he said.

Sullivan, White's most vocal opponent, started scratching his head over the statistics after anonymous tipsters pointed to criminal reports where the status of the case was changed from "inactive" to "unfounded."

An inactive status counts against the agency as an unsolved crime, decreasing the crime-clearance rate, while an unfounded status would increase that rate. A case is cleared either by arrest or by exception, when an arrest can't be made because there's some sort of reason beyond law enforcement's control that prevents the arrest.

Status Changes Disputed

Sullivan provided The Tampa Tribune with 16 reports in which the statuses had been changed from inactive to unfounded. The cases included home-invasion robberies, armed robberies, aggravated assaults, aggravated batteries and burglaries.

In one report from March, a New Port Richey police officer found a 36-year-old man lying in the bushes on Leisure Lane in the sheriff's office jurisdiction and called for a deputy. The man had been stabbed in the torso and a knife was still in his side when police arrived, the report said.

At one point the man, according to the report, told a deputy a stranger approached him from behind and stole a 12-pack of Old Milwaukee beer. Later, the man told him the name of a man who stabbed him and where he lived. When the deputy went to the nearby apartment, the resident said he didn't know the victim and there were no signs of a struggle or blood at the apartment.

In a later interview, the victim also told a detective he had been drinking before the incident.

In May, the status of the report was changed by a detective from inactive to unfounded. "After review, due to the inconsistencies in the victim's statement to law enforcement, there is insufficient evidence to prove a crime at this time. Further, his conditions prior to the alleged stabbing make this order of the events unsubstanciatable sic," Detective Gregory Hinnant wrote on the change status form.

The problem is, Sullivan said, the man was stabbed and the proof was the knife protruding from his body when an officer arrived.

"You can't do that," he said of the status change.

Doll said it's possible that this was a case of "mutual combat" or self-defense, neither of which constitute crimes.

In another unrelated incident, a report states, someone broke into a Zephyrhills home by prying open a window, and then flipped over couch cushions in the living room. A month later, the status of that case also was changed to unfounded. Later in May, another couple reported their Zephyrhills house had been broken into when someone cut a screen door and then unlocked it. The wife saw a man standing inside the home but the intruder fled. That was deemed unfounded in June.

Public Trust At Issue

On Monday, Sullivan sent the Florida Department of Law Enforcement a letter listing 28 case numbers for incidents he thought were improperly reclassified. He asked the agency to review them and determine whether there's been a violation of Uniform Crime Reporting protocol.

Uniform Crime Reporting is voluntary, though most agencies participate. It gives the public a good picture of crime in their area and how law enforcement is handling it.

Sullivan says an inaccurate clearance rate violates the public's trust, which is why he has asked the FDLE to investigate.

"Specifically, detectives are reclassifying cases as unfounded based on the victim refusing to cooperate or, that a lack of victim cooperation negates the fact that a crime occurred," Sullivan wrote in the letter. "In some cases, detectives have chose to ignore that all of the elements of a crime are present and have simply unfounded the case."

Heather Smith, a spokeswoman for FDLE, said as of Tuesday, Sullivan's letter hadn't arrived at the agency and she couldn't confirm the letter had shown up by Wednesday. When it did, she said, they would review it.

Sullivan maintains that he thinks detectives are being pushed - not necessarily by White - to increase the clearance rates because it's an election year.

"There's been no pressure by anyone to unfound cases," Doll said.

He conceded, however, that supervisors are reviewing the cases that have concerned Sullivan.

"We've even gone back further to see if there's a systematic problem," Doll said.

Lt. John Corbin said he has talked to detectives about the issue. He said he thinks there have been training issues and misunderstanding about when a case can be deemed unfounded.

"Some of that shouldn't have gotten by," he said of the status changes.

He said some of the cases might be changed back to an inactive status. Even if they are, Doll said, it will likely only change the clearance rate by one-tenth of a percent.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083 or ldavis@tampatrib.com.

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