Two Pinellas County deputies who slept together have been given written reprimands for violating Sheriff Jim Coats' anti-adultery policy. ...more

April 9, 2009

For years there was an annual late-summer rite that occurred all around Florida. The local sheriff, in good economic times or bad, would suggest in a public fashion the bad guys were winning the upper hand and the sheriff's agency needed more money to put extra personnel and equipment on the street to take back the initiative. These days, however, Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats is cutting spending in response to the drop in revenue the county is experiencing as a result of the collapse of the Florida housing industry and the nationwide economic recession. ...more

February 21, 2009

Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats held a news media photo opportunity Wednesday but he was not showing off any newly captured cache of illegal firearms or load of seized drugs. ...more

February 21, 2009

For years there was an annual late-summer rite that occurred all around Florida. The local sheriff, in good economic times or bad, would suggest in a public fashion the bad guys were winning the upper hand and the sheriff's agency needed more money to put extra personnel and equipment on the street to take back the initiative. In Pasco County over the decades there have been spirited battles between the sheriff of the moment and the County Commission, which under state law can make cuts in Sheriff's Office spending. ...more

February 21, 2009

Pinellas Sheriff Jim Coats is holding a news media photo opportunity this morning but he's not showing off any newly captured cache of illegal firearms or load of seized drugs. Instead, the county's top law enforcement officer is highlighting four closed housing units at the Pinellas Jail complex. ...more

February 18, 2009

Last month, the cash-strapped Pinellas School District decided to close or consolidate a number of elementary and middle schools. Sheriff Jim Coats announced this week a reorganization under which, he said, the Sheriff's Office could "serve citizens as efficiently as possible given the present and future budget challenges." ...more

February 7, 2009

Pinellas County Sheriff Jim Coats has announced a number of steps he hopes will make the Sheriff's Office more frugal. ...more

February 4, 2009

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is doing away with paid overtime and eliminating its fugitive unit as it tries to pare costs. The "zero overtime" policy affects all sheriff's office employees, not just deputies, and is expected to save $6 million. ...more

February 3, 2009

In the days of old, if a woman told a dispatcher she had been raped in Clearwater, and the dispatcher realized the crime occurred outside the city's boundaries, the woman would be given a telephone number to call. ...more

February 2, 2009

Four of the Tampa Bay area's top lawmen, some of whom have handled some of the area's most significant catastrophes or crimes, were sworn in today, or were expected to be. ...more

January 6, 2009