The Tampa Police Department started out in 1886 as a small department one year before Tampa was officially named a city In 1887(“The Tampa Police Department:A Historical Guide”, n. d, Para 1). Now, the Tampa Police Department, or the TPD, serves over 350,000 people in the Tampa, Florida area. The mission statement of the TPD reads as follows, “The mission of the Tampa Police Department is to reduce crime and enhance the quality of life through a cooperative partnership with all citizens. ” (“Police Information Resources”, n. d, Para 1) The TPD has a patch on their uniform that shows an older ship on water (Index 1).
The meaning of this patch could be because of the well known Tampa Bay and the shipping industry wealth it brought in the 1800’s up until present day. By reading the reviews on their website, I would say that certain citizens do not think they are doing a very good job keeping true to that statement. Upon deeper digging, I found that most of the complaints were about one incident. It appears that incident involved a young skateboarder getting harassed by police and sparked outrage, and the TPD now has a 2. 2 rating on Google (that is 2. 2 out of 5).
However, I did see many nice omments commending the police for doing the one thing they are supposed to do, protect their people. One corrupt cop does not necessarily mean the whole department is bad. There is a spotlight on police in America today, and everything they do is scrutinized. Their job is to serve and protect, and that is what every good officer does. The URL for the Tampa Police Department’s website is as follows (https://www. tampagov. net/ police. ). I mainly found the information through this website and a few others I will list in paragraphs below.
Organizational Structure The headquarters of the Tampa Police Department is located at 411 North Franklin Street in Tampa, Florida. There are 3 main divisions in the Tampa Police Department. Those include the Criminal Investigations Division, the Special Operations Division and the Special Support Division. The largest one seems to be the Criminal Investigations Division, because it has 2 boroughs inside of it. Those 2 boroughs are the Major crimes borough, which deals with sex crimes, murders and more serious crimes of that nature, and the Strategic Investigations Borough.
This borough deals more with gang and drug enforcement and undercover operations. The department also has 3 other districts, district 1 being the largest. It covers from the area of the Tampa International Airport all the way down to the MacDill Airfare Base. All 3 districts together cover over 170 square miles. The Tampa Police Department’s organizational chart (located in Appendix A) is considered flat because there is a limited amount of upper management. The heads of each department/division report to one person, the Chief of Police, Eric Ward. Department Personnel
There are about 1,000 sworn employees and about 350 fulltime citizens working for the TPD (“Careers at the Tampa Police Department”, Line 14-15). They each have a role in keeping the city safe. The chief of police, the one who oversees all divisions is named Eric Ward and he has served in the TPD for nearly 27 years. He oversees many departments and helps organize security for events that happen annually. He has been the chief of police for the past 2 years. According to Elizabeth Behrman of the Tampa Bay Times, ‘Ward, 47, will be Tampa’s second black police chief.
He is taking the position at a time when relationships between law enforcement and black communities across the country are tense or violent in some cities. “(Behrman, 2015). They also mention that he has served in almost every area of the TPD, and that he can help bring the city closer together. Recruiting and Hiring Process For the application process, you would have to obviously fill out an application which asks you to enter in certain information such as your education and if you had any previous experience in law enforcement. You also must have a Florida driver’s license and be a valid United States citizen.
You must have at least a high school diploma and either experience in the military or experience working for another police force. You can also get hired if you have an associates degree. I unfortunately could not get my hands on an application, as the applications for the year ended in early March. There are a few exams | discovered that need to be passed in order to be considered for the TPD. One is the Civil Service Exam, which is just a written test filled with common sense questions and situations that you might find yourself in. Another exam s the SOCE, or the State Officer Certification Examination.
An applicant needs to receive a passing score on this exam to be considered as well. An applicant may have to retake some exams or complete retraining if they have not been a sworn officer for more than 8 years. Selection Standards To be hired at the Tampa police department, you must be in good physical and mental health, and tests will be given to you to make sure you are. You also must be at least 21 years of age and have no visible tattoos. One test given to applicants is the PAT test, or the physical ANALYSIS TAMPA FLORIDA POLICE DEPARTMENT ctivities test.
There are a series of difficult activities an applicant must complete in order to be considered for a position. Some activities are; being able to escape the trunk of a car, running a certain distance, dragging a dummy and completing an obstacle course. The applicant must be able to complete these events, along with a few more, with little to no issues. Some other examples of tests that need to be done are a polygraph, a medical screening and a drug test. If anything unsatisfactory is found on any of those tests, you may be denied a job at the Tampa Police Department.
The most basic education requirement you can have is a high school diploma paired with military service or past police experience. Tampa also considers applicants who have an associates degree at a university. If that is the case, the applicant will have to complete training at a Florida police academy. More tests include a background check, which includes a polygraph test. An applicant may not be considered for a job anymore if that background check shows that they were ever convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. In the state of Florida, they will ot be able to get a job with any police agency with either on their record.
Another thing that could cause an applicant to no longer be considered is drug use. A drug test will be given before one is considered for a job, and can also be given randomly if they do obtain a job at TPD. Another test given is a psychological test to make sure the applicant is of sound mind before becoming part of the TPD. (“City of Tampa-Police Officer”, n. d) Academy Training In the state of Florida, if you have had no prior training to become a police officer or any military service, you will need to attend an academy.
There are a few local training centers that the Tampa Police Department’s website recommends, such as Hillsborough Community College and Pasco-Hernando State College, but I chose to go over the Law Enforcement Academy at St. Petersburg college. This college is located about a half hour away from Tampa, and is located in St. Petersburg, Florida. This particular Academy program is 22 weeks long and is daily, from early morning to late afternoon, so it is not overnight. The whole program is about 790 total hours in length. In addition to classes, you will have to submit a test called PASS, or Police nt Scre ice.
This test is about $200 and includes a polygraph, a background check and fingerprinting. You must pass and submit this test to be able to do your academy training at St. Petersburg college. (“Law Enforcement Academy: How to Apply to the Academy” # 2-3) The academy training itself can cost from anywhere between $4,000 and $10,000, depending if you reside in Florida or not. There are 2 volumes of classes that include Law Enforcement, and high liability. The law enforcement classes include basic training, like introduction to law enforcement, learning about patrolling, learning about crime scenes and other asic policing objectives.
High liability has more hands on classes, such as learning about firearms and how to shoot them, and physical training. If you already have previous experience or were an officer in another state, you will be exempt from having to go to the academy. Instead, you will have to complete an Equivalency of Training, or EOT. To be eligible to be exempt from the academy, you must have worked 1 year as a police officer in another state or you already received training that was equal to training in Florida. (“Florida CMS Law Enforcement Basic Recruit Training Program”, Page 1)
