St. Petersburg Police Department

Last updated

St. Petersburg Police Department
Patch of the St. Petersburg, Florida Police Department.png
Common nameSt. Petersburg P.D.
AbbreviationSPPD
Agency overview
Formed1903
Employees757
Volunteers62
Annual budget$86.9 million (2010 FY)
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdictionPinellas County, Florida, United States
Pinellas County Florida Incorporated and Unincorporated areas St. Petersburg Highlighted.svg
Map of St. Petersburg Police Department's Jurisdiction.
Size64 sq mi (170 km2)
Population262,000 citizens
Legal jurisdiction St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters1301 First Avenue North
St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.
Police Officers562
Unsworn members212
Agency executives
  • Anthony Holloway,
    Chief of Police
  • Joseph Dente, Assistant Chief, Uniform Services Bureau
  • Antonio Gilliam, Assistant Chief, Investigative Services Bureau
  • Michael Kovacsev, Assistant Chief, Administrative Services Bureau
Bureaus
4
  • Office of the Chief of Police
  • Administrative Services Bureau
  • Investigative Services Bureau
  • Uniform Services Bureau
Divisions
17
  • Community Awareness Division
  • Executive Operations Division
  • Legal Division
  • Internal Affairs
  • District 1
  • District 2
  • District 3
  • District 4
  • Uniform Support Division
  • Crimes Against Property Division
  • Crimes Against Persons Division
  • Youth Resources Division
  • Vice & Narcotics Division
  • Communications Division
  • Fiscal Services Division
  • Training Division
  • Records & Identification Division
Facilities
Districts1
Patrol Boats2
Website
St.Petersburg Police Department

The St Petersburg Police Department (SPPD) provides crime prevention and public safety services for the city of St. Petersburg, Florida. The department was created in 1903. The St. Petersburg Police Department has an authorized strength of 550 sworn officers and 212 civilian support staff. The department serves the fifth largest city in the state of Florida, with a population of 250,000. The St. Petersburg Police Department is one of over 1,000 law enforcement agencies in the United States accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). [1] Anthony Holloway is the chief of police.

Contents

The department has specialized units, both uniformed and undercover, to target specific public safety issues within the city (i.e., auto thefts, violent crime). [2] The department uses community outreach programs like Park Walk and Talk, [3] Facebook, Twitter, and a tip 411 [4] app to gather information from the community and address specific concerns.

History

In 1960s African American police officers were discriminated against. They were not allowed to work in certain locations, move up in rank, and also were not permitted to arrest whites. They had separate water fountains and lockers in the police station and were referred to as "half-police officers" by the community. [5] The officers even had to deal with their inability to arrest white people by having to wait for a white officer to come and make any actual arrests.

In 1965, a dozen officers, dubbed "the Courageous 12", sued the city for discrimination. These officers included Leon Jackson, Adam Baker, Freddie Crawford, Raymond DeLoach, Charles Holland, Robert Keys, Primus Killen, James King, Johnnie B. Lewis, Horace Nero, Jerry Styles, and Nathaniel Wooten. After losing their case, a federal appeals court, ruled in their favor in 1968, effectively ending the department's policy of segregation. [5] James B. Sanderlin was an activist and a lawyer that fought to end social and legal inequality in St. Petersburg. He was the lawyer who represented the " Courageous 12", and later went on to become the first African American judge of Pinellas County. [6]

Riots occurred in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1996 following the shooting and death of an African American male teenage motorist during a police traffic stop. [7]

In 2011 three SPPD officers were killed within the span of less than one month. [8] [9] [10]

In 2019 the Courageous 12 were honored by the creation of a plaque that was placed in the Saint Petersburg FL. Police department. [11] In 2020 the only officer from the original Courageous 12 group still alive was Leon Jackson.[ citation needed ]

In January 2022, after the St. Petersburg Police Department fired an officer for using a stun gun on a 64-year-old man in a wheelchair, it sent a report to the Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission for it to decide whether the officer could keep his Florida certification. [12]

Districts

The St. Petersburg Police Department has divided the city into three districts:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Petersburg, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the most populous city in the state that is not a county seat. It is the second-most populous city in the Tampa Bay area, which is the second-largest metropolitan area in Florida with a population of around 2.8 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Law enforcement in the United States</span> Major component of the American criminal justice system

As of 2020, more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers have been serving in the United States. About 137,000 of those officers work for federal law enforcement agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Reserve Police</span> Law enforcement unit of the U.S. Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve Police Department (FRPD) is the law enforcement unit of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Officer Down Memorial Page</span> Website that shows officers who passed during their time on duty

The Officer Down Memorial Page, Inc. (ODMP) is a non-profit organization that maintains a website listing American law enforcement officers, prison officers and police dogs who have died in the line of duty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orlando Police Department</span> Police department in Orlando, Florida

The Orlando Police Department (OPD) is the municipal law enforcement responsible within the city limits of Orlando, Florida, United States. The OPD employs over 800 sworn officers and over 150 civilian employees serving the citizens of Orlando through crime prevention, criminal investigations, and apprehension, neighbourhood policing, involvement through the schools with young people and overall delivery of police services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office</span> County agency of Hillsborough County, Florida

Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO) is the primary law enforcement agency for Hillsborough County, Florida and is responsible for law enforcement services for the 888 square miles (2,300 km2) of unincorporated areas of the county as well as operation of the two jail facilities and a work release center, and provides courthouse security for the 13th Judicial Circuit. Each of the three incorporated cities has its own police agency. Tampa International Airport and the University of South Florida also have independent police agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Paul Police Department</span> Police force in Minnesota, United States

The Saint Paul Police Department (SPPD) is the main law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the City of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. It was established in 1854, making it the oldest police organization in the state. In the beginning the men did not have a stationhouse. Prisoners were taken to the Fort Snelling brig until the city built a jail. The SPPD is the second largest law enforcement agency in Minnesota, after the Minneapolis Police Department. The department consists of 575 sworn officers and 200 non-sworn officials. The current Chief of Police is Axel Henry. He is the 42nd chief in the history of the St. Paul Police Department and was sworn in November 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cambridge Police Department (Massachusetts)</span> Law enforcement agency

The Cambridge Police Department is the municipal police department for the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the United States. Formally organized in 1859. with the appointment of John C. Willey as the first chief of police, the Cambridge Police Department was then staffed by only 16 officers. The Cambridge Police Department moved its headquarters location on December 8, 2008. The police department is now located in the Robert W. Healy Public Safety Facility at 125 Sixth Street in the neighborhood of East Cambridge, leaving their Central Square location after 135 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlington County Police Department</span> Police department in Virginia, U.S.

The Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency servicing the 238,643 residents of the 26 square miles (67 km2) of jurisdiction within Arlington County, Virginia. It is the primary law enforcement agency in the county for all levels of law enforcement, although the many federal reservations, enclaves and special jurisdictions in the county often maintain their own law enforcement agencies, which often collaborate with the County Police on many of their larger issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of the Army Civilian Police</span> Civilian-staffed law enforcement agency of the U.S. Army

The Department of the Army Civilian Police (DACP), also known as the Department of the Army Police, is the uniformed, civilian-staffed security police program of the United States Army. It provides professional, civilian, federal police officers to serve and protect U.S. Army personnel, properties, and installations. DACP personnel represent the Department of the Army's contribution to the Department of Defense Police program. DACP law enforcement officers primarily work alongside the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, the Army service members who hold law enforcement military occupational specialities. DACP officers are supplemented by Department of the Army Security Guards, who are uniformed and armed federal security officers, primarily responsible for entry control and basic security tasks. Although the Army Criminal Investigation Division employs civilian special agents, it does not fall-under the DACP or DoD Police umbrella.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Omaha Police Department</span> Law enforcement agency of Omaha, Nebraska, United States

The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is the principal law enforcement agency of the city of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. The OPD is the largest law enforcement agency in the state of Nebraska.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas Lindsey</span> American murderer

Nicholas Lindsey is a Florida man convicted of murder in the first degree of a law enforcement officer from the St. Petersburg Police Department.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allegheny County Sheriff's Office</span> Law enforcement agency that serves Allegheny County, Pennsylvania

The Allegheny County Sheriff's Office is a law enforcement agency that serves Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and is the largest sheriff's office in the state. The ACSO serves as a local arm of the Pennsylvania Unified Judicial System in a number of roles, including: court security, writ services, sales, prisoner transportation, issuing of firearm licenses and execution of warrants. A primary responsibility of the office is fugitive apprehension. The Sheriff's Office also assists local law enforcement agencies with emergency and incident response on an as-needed basis, most notably through the use of trained police dogs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department</span> County law enforcement agency in California, US

The Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department (SCSD) is an American law enforcement agency that is charged with law enforcement duties within the boundaries of Stanislaus County, California. As of the 2020 United States census, the county was inhabited by just under 552,880 people.

Police uniforms in the United States vary widely due to the nation's tradition of highly decentralized law enforcement. Over time, however, a number of general conventions and styles have become representative of American police fashion. Police officers wear uniforms to deter crime by establishing a visible presence while on patrol, to make themselves easily identifiable to non-police officers or to their colleagues who require assistance, and to quickly identify each other at crime scenes for ease of coordination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrisburg Bureau of Police</span> City police force in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Harrisburg Bureau of Police is a medium-sized city police force in South Central Pennsylvania serving the City of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 2021, Harrisburg had the eighth largest police department in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by total law enforcement employees. Since 2003, the Bureau has achieved and maintained its annual status of an Accredited Agency under the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association Accreditation Program. It is one of only 131 agencies across the state to voluntarily apply for and earn the accreditation.

The Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission(CJSTC), established in 1967 under Florida Statutes, Chapter 943, is a Florida state commission. The Commission's mission is "To ensure that all citizens of Florida are served by criminal justice officers who are ethical, qualified, and well-trained." It is part of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

References

  1. ↑ www.stpete.org/police. "Welcome to the St. Petersburg Police Department". police.stpete.org. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  2. ↑ "64 Arrested in Multi-County Auto Theft Crackdown | Patch". St. Pete, FL Patch. September 25, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  3. ↑ "St. Petersburg police Chief Tony Holloway, after 100 days in office, gets high praise". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Tip411". police.stpete.org. Archived from the original on February 24, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "St. Petersburg's 'Courageous 12' officers see familiar struggle 50 years later". Tampa Bay Times . Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  6. ↑ "James B. Sanderlin Black History Award honors William Darling and Elder Jordan, Sr". February 14, 2020.
  7. ↑ "Neighborhoodtimes: '96 riots: After national shame, did city change?". www.sptimes.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Sergeant Thomas John Baitinger". The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Police Officer Jeffrey Adam Yaslowitz". The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Police Officer David Scott Crawford". The Officer Down Memorial Page (ODMP). Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  11. ↑ "City honors the Courageous 12 with plaque at new police building". November 1, 2019. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  12. ↑ Mike Sunnucks (January 27, 2022). "SPPD Fires Cop Who Tasered Black Man in Wheelchair". The Gabber.

27°46′20″N82°39′07″W / 27.77222°N 82.65189°W / 27.77222; -82.65189

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.