TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

USF Police Chief Wins 'Ultimate Patrol Vehicle'

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

University Police Capt. Bob Staehle shows off the latest addition to the dept. fleet, a Chevy Tahoe complete with video cameras, radar and bulletproof glass.

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 9, 2008

TAMPA - University of South Florida police Chief Tom Longo must have a lucky hand. Today, he showed off the fruits of his good fortune – a 2008 Chevrolet Tahoe complete with police lights and sirens.

The department competed in a Florida Department of Law Enforcement convention last month and came in first in its category, Longo said.

At the end of the conference, each of 10 winners was handed a key knowing that one would crank up the top prize – the Tahoe. One by one, law enforcement officers walked up and tried their keys. Longo was last, and when he saw the officer in front of him walk away disappointed, he knew he had won.

For Longo, it was déjà vu.

Four years ago, he was a major with the Florida State University police department and found himself in the same situation. The result was the same.

"I thought, 'No way this is happening twice,' " he said Tuesday, admiring his department's new vehicle, which fully outfitted cost a cool $65,000.

There is $12,000 worth of emergency equipment loaded onto it, including blue and red emergency lights on all sides and along the undercarriage. It has state-of-the-art sirens and radar and the video cameras point forward and backward. The windows are bulletproof.

"It was shocking," Longo said. "I'm really not that lucky."

The Tahoe joins a fleet of 25 university police vehicles in a department of 39 officers that serves a university community estimated at 62,000 students and employees, including those at campus hospitals and hotels.

The department will use the lavishly equipped sport-utility vehicle for routine road patrols inside the university, stopping speeders, drivers without seat belts and suspected drunken drivers.

Said Capt. Bob Staehle, "It's the ultimate patrol vehicle."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT