Pubdate: Sun, 30 Jun 2002
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL)
Copyright: 2002 Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Contact:  http://www.newscoast.com/sarasota.cfm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/398
Author: Robert Eckhart

PUSH FAILS TO REDUCE CRIME IN N. SARASOTA

SARASOTA -- Street-corner drug peddlers whistle at cars that pass their 
perches along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, advertising cocaine or 
marijuana for sale.

A few blocks away, prostitutes still saunter up U.S. 41, despite flurries 
of complaints by residents fed up with the crime in the neighborhoods north 
of 10th Street.

It's been two years since the Sarasota police chief promised to reduce 
crime there by 10 percent. Instead, data from 2000 and 2001 show a 20 
percent increase. Burglaries are up 34 percent. Robberies are up 27 
percent. Aggravated assaults are up 13 percent. Citywide, drug arrests are 
down 16 percent. Chief Skip Jolly's resignation leaves the task of cleaning 
up the north side to his successor, who will also inherit a department that 
has been wracked by discipline problems.

Jolly, 55, came out of retirement when he accepted the chief's job in 2000. 
After 27 years of police work in Sarasota, including a four-year stint as 
chief, he had retired in 1996.

He didn't stay retired for long, taking a job with the nonprofit Drug Free 
Communities that kept him active among the groups that help authorities 
clean up neighborhoods. Police and residents were making a difference in 
Gillespie Park, where a neighborhood watch patrolled at night with 
police-issued cell phones to force out prostitutes and street crime.

Jolly, whose strengths were his political pull and experience, promised a 
similar effort on the north side, where community groups are less vocal and 
drug dealers are more brazen. It didn't happen. Jolly's strategic plan for 
the north side called for police to attend 50 percent more community meetings.

It also called for an increase in the number of officers who patrol the 
area on foot. Two officers were assigned walking beats, but they were 
frequently pulled away for other duties.

Increasing the foot patrol on the north side was supposed to be Jolly's No. 
1 priority this year, but he said he didn't have enough officers to do it.

Meanwhile, four officers were walking beats in the central district, which 
includes Gillespie Park. The department also failed to improve relations 
with residents on the north side.

Community groups say they never heard of the police chief's plan. They say 
police are helpful in general, but little changed under Jolly's administration.

"They listen, but we have to keep squeaking and hammering on them," said 
Calvin Bryant, president of the Amaryllis Park Neighborhood Association. 
"Eventually, we'll get something done."

The association represents a 15-block section in the center of the 
predominantly black Newtown neighborhood. Bryant figures there are no more 
than 50 drug dealers, but they're so visible that it seems as if there are 
10,000.

"They don't need to come up with anything new," Bryant said, referring to 
the police. "Just do the same thing they did with Gillespie and downtown, 
and apply it here."

Mayor Carolyn Mason, who runs a Goodwill store on Dr. Martin Luther King 
Jr. Way, said she watches five to 10 drug deals a week.

"It's really out of hand," Mason said. "You're talking about a small 
geographic area. Why can't we manage it better? There is an absence of 
consistent enforcement."

Jolly said he did his best. "Did we accomplish everything we wanted? No, we 
didn't," Jolly said. "But it was an ambitious plan. It was long term. 
Strategic plans don't get accomplished overnight. After I'm gone, those 
efforts will continue and we'll see some solutions."

Jolly came through on some of the changes called for in the crime-fighting 
plan.

He ordered officers to crack down on curbside drinking and noise violations.

He pushed for ordinances prohibiting camping in the city limits, public 
urination and panhandling -- rules that City Hall wanted in place so police 
could crack down on homeless people who cause problems. He kept up the 
twice-monthly drug and prostitution stings on the north side.

Jolly says the department focused on mid-level drug dealers who aren't as 
visible as the guys selling on the street.

Asset seizures from drug cases netted the city $300,000 last year -- up 
from $86,000 the year before.

Jolly spent much of his time networking away from headquarters.

He was chairman of a United Way committee on homelessness and worked 
closely with his former employers at Drug Free Communities. Meanwhile, 
discipline problems were piling up in the 200-officer department.

The internal troubles, including the arrest of three officers on charges 
including DUI and trading drugs for sex, eroded his support on the City 
Commission and led to his resignation in May.

The department has received more complaints about officers than it can 
investigate promptly.

Investigations are supposed to take 45 days, but they've been dragging on 
for months because of the backlog. Jolly said he wasn't sure what caused 
the rash of trouble at the department.

But the slow investigations made the city commissioners believe that 
discipline wasn't a priority for Jolly.

"I've lived here most of my life and I don't ever remember seeing the 
police department in the headlines as much," Commissioner Mary Quillin 
said. "That means there's an internal problem."

One officer was fired for calling a fleeing black suspect a "n-----." 
Another former officer was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa 
on charges of drug possession and obstruction of justice. According to the 
FBI, he was trading crack cocaine for sex with a woman he met on duty.

A veteran detective retired while the department was investigating a sexual 
misconduct case against him.

Yet another veteran officer was arrested on domestic battery charges after 
his girlfriend complained that he bit her cheek hard enough to draw blood. 
The city commissioners were calling for Jolly's resignation after he 
allowed the officer, Billy Ray Phillips, to return to duty. Usually, 
officers accused of serious wrongdoing are placed on administrative leave 
while the department investigates.

Jolly put Phillips back on patrol, saying the officer's personal problems 
wouldn't stop him from being effective.

The chief handed in his resignation a week later, saying he'd lost the 
confidence of the city commissioners. Over the past two months, the city 
has received more than 150 applicants for the chief's job, which pays about 
$115,000 a year.

City Manager Mike McNees has put together a committee to help with the 
hiring process. They hope to have the search narrowed to 15 or 20 
candidates by next month.

Quillin and Mason said they want someone who will take care of discipline 
problems promptly and work more closely with neighborhoods.

The relationship between the department and north side residents "can be 
fixed," Mason said. "People want it to be fixed, but they want some 
consistency. They need consistency. If we start a relationship, let's both 
work at maintaining it. Starting and stopping creates distrust."
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