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Sarasota News Leader January 11, 2013 Page 42 SARASOTA'S NEW POLICE CHIEF MAKES THE ROUND AT MEETINGS AS SHE GETS TO KNOW THE RESIDENTS OF HER NEW HOME By Stan Zimmerman City Editor While she is a third-generation police officer, there is a little bit of politician in Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino. This week she has been on a whirlwind tour of civic organizations while settling in as the city's new chief. them, and [say], 'All will be forgiven if you go straight,'" she said. The second initiative forces the department to react to activities of the local branch of the American Civil Liberties Union. "The ACLU is really targeting the SPD," she said. She started the job Jan. 1, and on Saturday, She brought up the "occupation" of GillesJan. 5, she was addressing grassroots leaders pie Park by the homeless. "We're going to do at the Coalition of City Neighborhood Asso- some things there," she said. ciations. NEXT STOP, NEWTOWN "I have three priorities: visibility, to strictly enforce the law and professionalism," she said. The following Tuesday, Jan 8, she was at the District One town hall meeting at the Robert True to the word she gave panelists during the L. Taylor Recreation Center in north Sarasota. selection process last fall, she handed out new She started off with a self-deprecating joke. business cards with her cell phone number. The punch line: "You don't look like a police "It's not for emergencies. That's 911. This is chief." for telling me stuff you think I need to know," Even in uniform with the patent leather utility she said. "It's the phone that's in my purse." belt, she looks like a pre-teen dressing in dadThe number is 780-2746. dy's work clothes. But appearances deceive. She went from rookie to chief in 17 years, and Sporting a uniform tailored for her petite size she stayed a chief for a decade longer. A speplus bulletproof vest, she told the neighbor- cial weapons and tactics team leader, narcothood leaders, "Communication is important to ics detective, undercover operator — there is me. I want to be accessible to you. Ultimately, little she has not done with distinction. Many, the buck stops with me." I am sure, have seriously underestimated BerShe noted two initiatives under way involving nadette DiPino. the department. One is a strategy used in High Point, NC, to reduce crime by mass arrests of the city's vilest offenders, with an eye to making the case for their getting hard prison time. "Then we'll show the second-worst [set of offenders] the cases [we have] against She started the job in Sarasota even before she was supposed to. While Jan. 1 was to be her first day, on New Year's Eve, she went on patrol. She was one of the first responders to a stabbing downtown, and then she was in Newtown as midnight neared.