Two Democrats compete to run for sheriff
Article published on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008 |
Two candidates for sheriff will be on the ballot in the Democratic primary, Randall Jones and John Pikramenos.
They were asked to provide biographical information and the answers to the following questions: “What would you do to ensure that the cooperation among the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and municipal police departments provides the best use of taxpayers’ dollars?” and “What are other key issues facing the Sheriff’s Office in the next four years?”
Randall Jones
Randall Jones, who lives in unincorporated Clearwater, has 18 years of experience working for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, including as domestic violence investigator, crimes against children detective, property crimes and burglary detective, field training unit corporal, field training officer, patrol corporal, community police deputy and patrol deputy.
Jones also has been a certified nursing assistant, mental health technician, restaurant owner and manager and mortgage loan specialist.
Community service: Pinellas County Urban League; Law Enforcement and Friends Inc., founder and president; National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, Pinellas County school mentoring program; Upper Pinellas NAACP; Citizens Alliance for Progress; Alliance for Better Life, board member; Spiritual Change, board member; Fraternal Order of Police; charter school board member.
Education: Graduate of the Law Enforcement Academy, St. Petersburg College.
Cooperation among Sheriff’s Office, police departments: Seek to establish an interagency coordinating committee of the primary budget personnel who would reach consensus on programs and areas of policing that are common to all law enforcement agencies concerned.
Other key issues: The Sheriff’s Office must address rising crime associated with gang violence, the abuse and exploitation of juvenile and senior citizens. The goal is to ameliorate these crimes by placing strong emphasis on awareness through the development of prevention and intervention educational programs.
The need for fiscal restraint within the Sheriff’s Office. The agency must gain and maintain the trust of the Board of County Commissioners and taxpaying citizens of Pinellas County by exercising fiscal discipline with every tax dollar entrusted by the agency. To ensure accountability I would institute a policy of annual audits of all departments and divisions within the agency.
John Pikramenos
John Pikramenos, who lives in Tarpon Springs, has 30 years of experience working for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. He was a supervisor for 26 of those years in patrol functions, internal affairs, robbery unit, property crimes and general investigations unit, vice unit, intelligence sections and child protection investigations division.
Community service: Coaching, assisting and volunteering with youth, Little League and soccer organizations; Habitat for Humanity.
Education: Associate of arts degree in police administration, St. Petersburg Junior College and bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice, University of South Florida.
Cooperation among Sheriff’s Office, police departments: To ensure the best use of the taxpayers’ dollars I would envision first a consolidation of resources. This would come in the form of services, equipment and any resource that is currently being duplicated by the various agencies. It makes no sense whatsoever to have a communication center, crime scene investigators, evidence storage section, etc. for each police agency within Pinellas County. Pooling our resources, each agency would have all of the services at a fraction of the cost that it would have originally cost if the individual police agencies operated separately.
Specifically, all police agencies currently utilize individual communications and dispatch systems. So for example if you look at 20 different police agencies you will have 20 communication centers, 20 sets of dispatchers, 20 sets of call takers, etc. When you factor in that we operate on a 24 hours a day seven days a week system that is literally three sets of all services, each day for each agency. It is a terrible waste of the taxpayers’ money.
Other key issues: Thinking outside of the box regarding consolidation of services is extremely important. I will make it my priority and I will drive that bus. The time is now to get this done.
Another key issue facing the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is re-education of the deputies on priorities. There was a time when our mission was to protect and serve. We have lost sight of our goals and the truth of the matter is service has become secondary. A new philosophy is warranted and it starts at the top.
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Article published on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008
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