Most of St. Pete Beach Police to Work for Sheriff
With St. Pete Beach replacing their police with the Pinellas County Sheriff, most of the St. Pete Beach police staff will begin working for the Sheriff.
St. Pete Beach police officers will not be out of a job when the transition is made for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office to handle law enforcement.
Most of the 24 local police officers will work for the Sheriff's Office after the shutdown, according to an article in the Tampa Bay Times. Three of the 24 will become bailiffs and the rest are being offered patrol duty positions.
The two highest-ranked positions at the St. Pete Beach Police, Capt. Dean Horianopoulos and Chief David Romine, have declined positions.
Horianopoulos has accepted a position as a special agent for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
Romine was offered either a bailiff or patrol deputy position, but declined both. He is still considering options.
The switchover takes place Jan. 6, but the St. Pete Beach police officers moving to the Sheriff's office will no longer serve in St. Pete Beach. The Sheriff's office has already chosen the 14 deputies who will patrol St. Pete Beach.
Jeanne McLaughlin
8:48 am on Monday, December 17, 2012
Why wouldn't you leave the officers that know the neighborhood etc in place for a while to help introduce the others. I hope our town never does this. They are wonderful and very responsive to the citizens. They go above and beyond with helping keep us safe and knowing when something is not normal and get out of their cars and check!!!!!!!