Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/110922
Sarasota News Leader February 22, 2013 in there. Seems like there���s a lot of room and a lot of desks with people sitting there. Of course this was years ago. They may not have had computers then. They may not have as many people sitting at desks anymore. For street officers, the county and the city are different skill sets as far as working the street. You might have noticed the last two shootings have been Sheriff���s deputies rather than city police, and that stuck out in my mind. I can���t imagine Sarasota City Police reacting in the same way because they have a different skill set. It���s a different population. City people, they���ve got their own idiosyncrasies. And county people have a little different idiosyncrasies. Page 17 Should we merge some special teams such as Marine Patrol, Bomb Squad, SWAT and others? Lumpkin: I think there should be a combined SWAT team. In areas like that, we should strongly consider merging those. I don���t know there is great benefit from having two SWAT teams or bomb squads. Theisen: For instance if there���s a bomb scare, I���d hope both teams would respond. Especially K-9. I���d like to see more use of K-9 because the dogs can run way faster than the officers can. It���s unlikely someone running away from an officer would outrun [the officer���s] dog. I don���t think I want to merge the street offi��������� cers. I don���t think we have enough street ofThe city continues to run a deficit in its ficers annual budget, making up the difference ��������� from reserves. Will you raise taxes, cut Should we merge some special teams services or continue tapping into savsuch as Marine Patrol, Bomb Squad, ings? SWAT and others? Dorfman: I think input from staff is like gold Dorfman: I think it���s a misnomer when you dust, and we should continue to get input look at that. You would achieve no savings from staff. They are there on the ground dealby merging those special groups. The officers ing with things every day. If they have ideas who man those groups are patrol officers. where you can cut, where you can improve, They don���t sit around waiting for a bomb call or a K-9 call. As needed they come together as we need to listen to them. a group and do whatever service it is. They train on company time. Dorfman: All cops are supposed to train. I���m all for training, it���s part of the job. One unfortunate thing is the cops are not getting enough training. I believe the training budget has been cut back. I���d like to see more training. I don���t think you achieve any cost savings whatsoever by merging those outfits. ��������� I am not an advocate of raising taxes. I think you will be hard-pressed to find any politician who says, ���I want to raise taxes.��� I would like to see the city become more friendly to other sources of commercial revenue. Commercial revenue? Dorfman: Commercial revenue meaning business. Development. If you find other sources