Cop car as road sign

[scooterbug44]

What's up with the empty sheriff's car constantly sitting in front of Borago's/Lilypads/Monet with its lights on?

If there is a safety issue, why isn't there an officer IN the car issuing tickets?

If it is just there to make people drive more slowly, why not move/reprogram the sign by the bridge (the one that warns us that the restriping will begin "soon" on May 20th) or put in one of the temporary speed limit signs that tells folks how much they are speeding?

And if it's there because there are constantly people parking on the grass shoulder and walking across the road, maybe a redirection/review of the parking spaces vs. seats in the nearby businesses would be a better long-term solution.

 

[Kurt]

I assumed it is an off duty deputy employed by a business there like they do at the Red Bar. I guess they're allowed to use county cars but not sure about having the lights on. Although they used lights at the 331 cafe and they were needed.

 

[30ABandMan]

I'm not sure why the vehicle is there but the deputies can use their patrol cars for off duty details. This is a pretty normal practice at most sheriff offices in the area. There is a nominal user fee paid back to the S.O. that comes out of their $25.00 an hour charge for working the detail but it is barely $2's an hour and would certainly not cover the extra fuel charge and maintinance.

I hardly see how it is fair for the taxpayer to foot the bill for deputies using S.O. equipment to basically run their own private security enterprises. I familiar with the arguement that "it is better to have a deputy working it in uniform" and all of the other things that can be said. However, many times those vehicles go for hours without being shut off, they are driven all over the county to the different details, many of the deputies live in the north end that work these details too.

I think that there should be a better accounting of how the vehicles are used. Many county employees have to pay an extra tax out of their salaries if they opt to take a non-essential vehicle. It is considered a taxable fringe benefit.

While, I do like the deputies taking their home with them, I'm not completely sold on them using them to work off duty details.

 

[scooterbug44]

Basically my thought process was "that is one heck of an expensive road sign to make people slow down" when I rode my bike by in the afternoon.............

that evening I thought "that can't be good for the battery/vehicle"............

and several hours later I had progressed to "are my taxes paying for a unmanned vehicle to sit there and get wear and tear because people are too dumb to park in the empty lot next door instead of on the shoulder?"

 

[scooterbug44]

Clarification please - I thought that businesses paid the Sheriff's Department so they could have uniformed/marked cars and trained law enforcement personnel as security.

Instead you are telling me that employees are running a side business and paying a ridonkulously low fee to use taxpayer funded resources for a private enterprise?

 

[Matt J]

I have no problem with business's using off duty Sheriff's Deputies to slow traffic down. As long as the vehicle is off and they are simply running the battery down. Even drunks will slow down and pay attention with those blinding strobe lights going. Of course the average person would also conclude that a low priced strobe light with blue gels would do the same trick.

 

[30ABandMan]

Clarification please - I thought that businesses paid the Sheriff's Department so they could have uniformed/marked cars and trained law enforcement personnel as security.

Instead you are telling me that employees are running a side business and paying a ridonkulously low fee to use taxpayer funded resources for a private enterprise?

The deputies work the details, they are not paid by the s.o. at the time. The usual contracted price is $25.00 an hour, normally paid in cash at the end of the shift by whoever is sponsoring the event. Out of this, the deputy is to forward a portion of that to the s.o. for the use of the vehicle. I have heard it is as little as $1.25 an hour.

So, basically, the deputies use their patrol vehicles and uniforms to work as private security. It is done everywhere you look though, everytime you pass road construction there are FHP sitting there. If you go to a bar, a festival, a wedding, anywhere with large groups, you'll see deputies. Remember before we got the light 395, the deputies sat there all night? Yep, $25.00 an hour paid by the state.

Again, I don't have a problem with them working the extra details and earning more money. I do have a problem with them using taxpayer resources to do it though. They should have a trackable fee that is paid back into the county funds to cover the use of their vehicle. Or, like other employees, they should have to park it at the s.o. and drive their pov unless they pay taxes on it.

 

[Matt J]

My understanding is that the FHP is usually on duty when working construction details.

Little know Florida fact: Only a law enforcement officer can direct traffic. The guy in the orange vest with the swizel stop sign pretty much has no authority.

 

[30ABandMan]

My understanding is that the FHP is usually on duty when working construction details.

Little know Florida fact: Only a law enforcement officer can direct traffic. The guy in the orange vest with the swizel stop sign pretty much has no authority.

It has been my experience (Communications Supervisor at Okaloosa for nearly 8 years) that they are working off duty details. While they will leave that post in an emergency, they will not usually respond like a normal trooper would. They will also return to the detail when relieved by an on duty Trooper. Same goes for the off duty P.D. and Deputies...if they make an arrest while on a special detial, an on duty unit will come to transport the subject if needed.

 

[enfuego]

My understanding is that the FHP is usually on duty when working construction details.

Little know Florida fact: Only a law enforcement officer can direct traffic. The guy in the orange vest with the swizel stop sign pretty much has no authority.
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Actually FHP is on duty on those details. Not sure about the Florida fact, those guys with the orange vest and swizzle sticks can't enforce traffic but must be trained through FDOT managment of traffic (MOT) to operate in the roadway and direct traffic.