Consultant to Pompano Beach: Drop BSO and You'll Save Millions
The Broward Sheriff's Office empire may be about to lose control of one of its key turf areas: Pompano Beach.
A consulting firm hired by the city met with Pompano commissioners last week and told them that its $80,000 study found that the city could save $3 million a year if it broke away from BSO and formed its own police force, said city officials.
That's just the kind of news that the embattled Lamberti didn't need to hear, especially as he enters a tumultuous budget battle with the County Commission. Pompano's $37 million contract with BSO is up for renewal in September and, with the consultant's recommendation, it is undoubtedly in serious jeopardy.
"The consulting firm said it would be a lot more reasonable if we had our own police force," Pompano Commission Woody Poitier told me today. "They will come out with a final report and we'll get our questions answered. I don't have enough to make up my mind yet, but if you're talking about cost savings, then I would be crazy not to say that we should have our own police force."
Poitier said BSO's cost keeps going up. He says the cost is expected to rise another 5 percent for next year, from $37 million to $38.8 million. And he says the city doesn't seem to get what it's paying for from Sheriff Lamberti and his force.
"BSO often has left a lot to be desired for Pompano," he said. "Our detectives, for instance, are not in the building in Pompano; they are downtown. They service Pompano, but they also service everybody else. Same with the dog units."
I asked Poitier if he felt there was a consensus among the commission to terminate the BSO contract. He replied: "I think if you put it up for a vote and you show that savings the consulting company says is there, they will all vote for going to back our own police department."
17 comment(s) / Post a Comment
It's a good thing Mr. Poitier did not rise to your potentially dangerous (to him) question about a consensus on the commission to terminate the contract. If any such consensus exists and is known to the commissioners it is a clear violation of sunshine laws. These things can not be discussed by commissioners other than in council meetings.
Posted On: Friday, Jul. 3 2009 @ 6:42PM@ SOFLA.
If you believe commissioners do not discuss things with each other outside of council meetings, I've got a nice bridge I'd like to sell you.
The laws don't prevent that kind of behavior, they just make it happen behind closed doors.
Posted On: Friday, Jul. 3 2009 @ 11:07PMThere was no danger. I prefaced the question with this: "Based on what you've heard at commission meetings ..."
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 10:29AMSheriff Jenne, in his efforts to take over as many municipal departments as possible, did not reveal the true cost of the BSO package. Now, Couunty consultants have stated that non-contracted cities are paying some of those fees. Police Officers in those municipalities were ALL for thechange...a free car, free gas, no insurance costs, overtime as part of the pension calculation. The BIG convincer for most elected municipal officials was that now debunked system for identifying crime areas and "solving" crimes. I think that more local departments are going to follow in Pompano's footsteps.
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 12:16PMIf you play poker you know that you can "know" what the other person is holding without seeing his cards.
The same goes for governing. You would be a poor elected official if you did not know what was going on in your city.
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 2:03PMEver since BSO took over our city has seen a rise in crime and low morale. It was good under Jenne but when this big ear clown Lameberti came along everything took a dump.No cops on the beach and it took two hours to get a cop to respond to my home. When Lamberti was here he was having an affair with a City Commissioner and the left foot didnt know what the right foot was doing. We had (22) sexual assaults before BSO finally caught the guy. We need our own police department or a new Sheriff, not one that was dating one of his own female deputies while he was Cheif in Pompano. It looks like Lameberti is really screwing things up.
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 2:21PMNICE1 lets go backwards! If we save a little we loose alot in care.what happens when the city gets busy? Mutual Aid bye ??? B.S.O. or the city doe'nt have divitions B.S.O. has? Other cities won't follow suit cause there not as naive and stupid as Pomppano!
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 7:48PMHow come no one is asking the question of how much money it would cost to start up a whole police dept. again? The initial start up costs could out weigh the small amount that you might think your trying to save.
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 9:38PMHow come no one is asking the question of how much money it would cost to start up a whole police dept. again? The initial start up costs could out weigh the small amount that you might think your trying to save.
Posted On: Saturday, Jul. 4 2009 @ 9:39PMIf we do get our own force, just pray BSO don't charge for other services, for example like the Helicopter for both rescue and Law enforcement. What about the technical rescue team, SWAT, Boom squad,as well as logistics.
Their drug enforcement is one of the best. How many years will it take a department back up to par? Even if you do hire a good core of employees it'll take a few years to train the rest of the employees, and it'll take a few law suits and loads of problems before you weed out the half arse police. Even with any monies you may get from Obama, It'll take a long while. Again REMEMBER you get what you PAY FOR ! It's like 1 step forward 4 steps back. And for $80,000 dollars I can do a study and make it say what you want it do say. Look at the fire issue in Fort Lauderdale, it took the 3 or 4 studies (at around 70 to 100 thousand dollars a pop) before they got someone to say what they wanted to hear. Penny wise, pound foolish. I think Sheriff Lameberti is doing an OUTSTANDING job. As a county we should have ALL our police , fire, Rescue and jails under 1 ( ONE ) person for Homeland Security reasons. The only thing it can do, ( In my opinion is to say LIVES and property )
Good points and these are some of the questions the commission is going to be asking in the weeks ahead. Poitier did address the start-up cost issue, saying that was his number-one concern. He said the consulting firm indicated to him that the costs wouldn't be "too bad." It's going to be interesting to see what this firm has come up with.
Posted On: Sunday, Jul. 5 2009 @ 10:13AMBSO would not be if Pompano if Kay McGinn had not flopped like a fish out of water in the last few minutes before the City Commision meeting the night of the vote over BSO. She was a not vote until someone got to her. Wounder who that might have been Kay?
Posted On: Sunday, Jul. 5 2009 @ 8:28PMBring back the PPD. at least, thay would look you in the eye and smile when and if they passed your house and you were outside.
You don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to see that BSO indeed, was not the answer for Pompano Baech nine years ago. One of the persons posting said that all of the Pompano Police officers wanted BSO for the take-home car, etc. Not true. There were a lot of officers who knew that it was going to be a "Cluster" !
The citizens of pompnao Baech lost a lot of personal service, friendship and in general great service from the men and women of the Pompano Police Deaprtment.
As far as Nutual Aid...the Sheriff's Office CANNOT deny that to any city in Broward. It is a state law that because couty taxes provide the Sheriff's offices with the mnoney to operate, Mutual Aid must be provided.
You only have to look at instances like the falsifying of the Uniform Crime Reports that took place a few years ago to see how some Sheriff Office's work!
I left the Pompano Police in a few months after they took over. I could see the direction that it was going, and did not want tot be any part of it.
GO BACK YO YOUR OWN POLICE DEPARTMENT! Pompanop Beach Police...has a nice ring to it,...doesn't it!
Posted On: Monday, Jul. 6 2009 @ 10:00AMThankfully you have hung up your uniform sir! It just may take a rocket scientist to teach you have to spell properly. Calling yourself a former representative of Pompano Beach Police Department, yet you misspelled the city’s name twice shows volumes of what Pompano Beach Police Department use to employ. Furthermore, what are “nutual” aid, “couty” “deprtment” and “mnoney”? Please sir, if you are going to formulate an opinion and care to carry merit, please learn how to spell.
Yes, the Sheriff cannot deny mutual aid to any city; however, he can delay it! If the helicopter unit it being used by Deerfield and Pompano PD requests it, those contracting with BSO will get first service. Not to mention, BSO DOES NOT have to dispatch for Pompano. Who are they going to use? Lighthouse Point? FLPD? Not going to happen because BSO already dispatches for them. Take into consideration the crime happening in Broward County.
Lets say all the cities went back to their perspective police department and our Sheriff’s Office only handled the courts and jail. Who is going to provide services such as the crime lab, helicopter, inter jurisdiction investigations, SWAT teams for cities who do not have one, fugitive warrants, medivac, DUI Task force, Marine Patrol, Bomb Squad, Dispatch Center, trained Riot team, and so much more. These services cost big money and without the coverage area BSO currently has, there are not going to get the budget to provide these essential services. We do not have a strong state police and FDLE is closing their door in many areas and going to a more regional location. FHP has two Troopers a night in the county. And when all hell breaks lose are all these individual police agencies going to be on the same page? Heck no! Do you think Fort Lauderdale city is going to care what happens in say Deerfield? FLPD is 200 officers short as it is? Who are we going to call? PBSO? Jacksonville? Orlando?
The reality is in a county this size, there is a substantial need for a large police agency with outstanding resources. What Lamberti needs to do is cut some of the upper brass and reduce some of the cost to Pompano Beach. Honestly, I would rather cut at will employees like upper brass and hire more worker bees. There should be no layoffs for patrol and if lay offs are needed, start with the higher salary employees taking up useless space.
http://www.neiassociates.org/regionalization.htm
Posted On: Monday, Jul. 20 2009 @ 1:40AMTake two cities in South Florida, Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach. Both cities have around the same population.
Pompano 105,941
West Palm 92,686
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html
As we learned earlier, Pompano pays BSO 33,116,270 for 331 Law Enforcement Positions.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/budge...
West Palm Beach budgets 50,256,503 for their own police force, which includes 271 Law Enforcement positions.
http://www.cityofwpb.com/finance/pdf/FY%20200... (Pg 32)
As for crime according to FDLE Pompano had a total crime index of 6,679 and a crime rate per 100,000 of 6,604.5 with less murders than West Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach had a total crime index of 8,413 and a crime rate per 100,000 of 8007.2 with more murders and less population than good ole Pompano.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/UCR/2007/CoM...
And when Pompano had their own police force back in 1998 their total crime index was 7475 and a crime rate per 100,000 people of 10,067.61 with less population.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/UCR/1998/ucr...
You can’t argue with the facts. West Palm with less population pays 20 additional million for their own police force and still has a higher crime rate with more violent crime. With a consolidate government; cities receive better coverage and more resources. The only reason a city would want their own police for is for that reason, something to call their own, something to control.
Posted On: Monday, Jul. 20 2009 @ 1:41AMTake two cities in South Florida, Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach. Both cities have around the same population.
Pompano 105,941
West Palm 92,686
http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html
As we learned earlier, Pompano pays BSO 33,116,270 for 331 Law Enforcement Positions.
http://www.mypompanobeach.org/directory/budge...
West Palm Beach budgets 50,256,503 for their own police force, which includes 271 Law Enforcement positions.
http://www.cityofwpb.com/finance/pdf/FY%20200... (Pg 32)
As for crime according to FDLE Pompano had a total crime index of 6,679 and a crime rate per 100,000 of 6,604.5 with less murders than West Palm Beach.
West Palm Beach had a total crime index of 8,413 and a crime rate per 100,000 of 8007.2 with more murders and less population than good ole Pompano.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/UCR/2007/CoM...
And when Pompano had their own police force back in 1998 their total crime index was 7475 and a crime rate per 100,000 people of 10,067.61 with less population.
http://www.fdle.state.fl.us/FSAC/UCR/1998/ucr...
You can’t argue with the facts. West Palm with less population pays 20 additional million for their own police force and still has a higher crime rate with more violent crime. With a consolidate government; cities receive better coverage and more resources. The only reason a city would want their own police for is for that reason, something to call their own, something to control.
Posted On: Monday, Jul. 20 2009 @ 1:48AM
