Debate season amongst all of the mayoral candidates running in Tampa's March 1 election will heat up next month, and certainly questions about the Tampa Police Department will be part of those forums.
But citizens can learn where the candidates stand on some of the issues that concern members of the TPD right now, as the Tampa Police Benevolent Association has published the responses to questionnaires that it issued to all of the candidates as the PBA votes today on who they will endorse in the mayoral race.
Of all the questions on the form (which can be accessed by going to the PBA's website), the one we were curious to see responses to was to Tampa's car chase policy, which former Mayor Dick Greco reinstated back in May of 1995, after winning office two months earlier. That policy allowed officer to give chase even for non-violent property crimes that include burglary and auto theft. But it has become controversial at times, especially after there have been fatalities involved in chasing after stolen cars. The PBA writes in their background information before asking the question in the survey that policy has been scaled back somewhat, so that the police can only give chase after a pursued vehicle has committed or attempted to commit a forcible felony or any burglary – which still means however that it can still give chase for a non-violent episode.
The question asked by the PBA was: Do you think the current vehicle pursuit policy is too restrictive or not restrictive enough, and would you make any changes to it? Please explain.
Here are their responses:
This article appears in Dec 16-22, 2010.