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Police Chief Counters Impression St. Pete Is Less Safe

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By STEPHEN THOMPSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 5, 2009

Updated: 02/05/2009 01:38 pm

ST. PETERSBURG - Armed with graph after graph showing improvements in the police department's performance, St. Petersburg Police Chief Chuck Harmon this afternoon tried to beat back the impression among some city council members that St. Petersburg has become less safe.

The approach worked with most, but not with all.

City council member Wengay Newton – who represents the city's most violent district – broke into tears when he spoke of the parents of murdered children who call him day and night. To Newton and his constituents Harmon's charts of numbers are out of context.

"After a while people get tired of it," Newton said. "They don't want to hear stats."

But one of those graphs Harmon brought to the workshop this afternoon to discuss crime was one showing homicides are down.

Robberies are up however, by 8 percent. And burglaries are up 14 percent. Overall crime is down, Harmon noted.

Harmon also said he can't always tell the public what his officers, such as its undercover special investigations unit, is doing to combat some trends, such as the recent spate of violent convenience store robberies that have plagued City Council Chairman Jeff Danner's district.

Danner said that stance sometimes seemed "dismissive."

"There are a half-dozen people who have had a gun shoved in their face this year," Danner said. More confidence-building on the part of the chief would be welcome, he said.

Others generally praised the chief and his officers' work, and backed down from prior criticisms.

City Council member Karl Nurse implied in a written question submitted to the chief before the workshop that the department was reactive, not proactive, that it was "defensive" and didn't take the fight to the criminals.

But Nurse backed down today, noting that he had several concerns resolved after meeting with the chief before the workshop. Today he said the department was proactive not reactive, but that it might want to publicize those proactive measures.

In his written questions, council member Jim Kennedy homed in on whether the two undercover officers wounded over the past nine months were wearing vests. He asked for the policies dictating the use of vests.

Harmon noted that officers are not generally required to wear vests, and if an undercover detective is wearing one he might not seem so undercover. Still, he said, he and his staff are looking at equipment that might better protect undercover units while helping them to maintain their undercover status.

Like Nurse, council member Leslie Curran met with the chief Harmon, and said the chief answered all the questions the council had of him. But, she said, she would like to see him out in the community more.

Council member Jim Kennedy also noted the importance of communicating with the public.

Reporter Stephen Thompson can be reached at (727) 451-2336 or spthompson@tampatrib.com.

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