Laurie K. Blandford
FORT PIERCE — With the firings of Sgt. Brian MacNaught and Officer Ralph Keith Holmes effective this week, police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney is counting on the community noticing the Police Department's yearlong efforts oftraining andbeing accountable to thepublic.
“Sometimes we make a mistake,” she said, “and we understand that, and we’re changing those dynamics.”
The details of aseven-month internal investigation into MacNaught's and Holmes' actions April 23, 2016, when they were involved in the fatal shooting of21-year-old Demarcus Semer during a traffic stop, were made publicthis week. Itshowed they madea series of tactical errors that created a dangerous situation,and they violated several department policies. Both officers have appealed their firings with the city.
Report: Fired Fort Pierce officers showed pattern of violating police policies
A grand jury in Septemberdidn't find any criminal violationsbutsuggestedchanges within the department, particularly regarding increased training and better community relations. That's been happening, Hobley-Burney said. Under the chief's request, the department has been undergoing a federal Department of Justice review of its policies and procedures.
“(The federal review) isgoing to help us formulate our roadmap of success and our strategic plan for the Police Department,” said City Manager Nick Mimms. A public report of findings and recommendations is expected within two to four months.
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Throughout it all, the Police Department has been undergoing a transformation.
“We’re not the old department that you’re accustomed to,” Hobley-Burney said.
Mimms, who has been watching every step of the way and is the chief's boss, said the city is moving in a positive direction. He said the changes are making the Police Department more accountable, responsible and reliable.
"I want to make sure our citizens feel like our Police Department is part of the community and not the enemy,"Mimms said.
Training
The biggest changes have come to training at the Police Department, based on recommendations from the grand jury to improve defusing situations and to incorporate scenario-based training.
Hobley-Burney created a “master trainer” job for Sgt. Don Christman, who is a certified trainer and expert witness, to oversee all training at the department.
In April, five Fort Pierce officers were trained in defusing difficult situations and in not letting things get to acrisis stage. They, in turn, will train the rest of the department.
“We want to put this in the DNA of every aspect of our training,” Christman said.
Dave Young, the co-founder of Vistelar and the director and founder of ARMA Training, taught the officers torespectpeople, seesituations throughothers' viewpointsand offer options if things don’t go well.
The strategies, which are based on tone of voice, facial expressions, body posture and precise word choices, teach officers to provide a supportive atmosphere when interacting with citizens, Young said.
“You’re going to more than likely want to tell me information about yourself if I make you feel comfortable, than if I make you feel threatened or make you defensive," Young said.
The department bought $56,000 worth of virtual reality equipment for scenario-based training, Hobley-Burney said. The eyewear puts the officers in different situations where they have to act and respond, which could be anywhere from inside an office to outside at a traffic stop.
If an officer doesn’t react appropriately, she said, the master trainer can tell the officer what was done wrong to prepare them for the real world.
“We changed the way we train altogether,” Hobley-Burney said.
The grand jury also recommended body cameras, which has long been a request from the community.
The department leased100 body cameras for road patrol officers, sergeants and detectives serving search warrants, the chiefsaid. She plans to be using them by June. There'safive-yearcontract for them for $450,000, said Ed Cunningham, public information officer for the department.
Fort Pierce police to get new dash cameras, body cameras
Community relations
The chief and other department leaders held three community forumsthroughout the cityduring the first week of Mayto update residents about the training officers are undergoing,includinga demonstration of howbody cameras work.
“We want an agency that the community is going to respect," Hobley-Burney said, "and we want an agency that respects our community.”
Even before the police-involved shooting of Semer, Hobley-Burney had been trying to change the dynamics of policing in terms of how officers interact with residents, she said. Her "front porch roll calls" bring officers to a public location in the citya few times a week for their morning briefings.
That way, residents not only know what’s going on in their neighborhoods, they also get to know the officers who patrol those neighborhoods —and the officers get to know the residents.
Officers regularly mentorchildren in elementary schools by playing games with them every week during the Courageous Kids program at First Step Park on Avenue G at 31st Street.
Hobley-Burney hopes the positive interactions will help the kids relate to officers and shape untainted views of law enforcement.
Betty Bradwell, a 65-year-old Fort Pierce resident who is a part of the Lincoln Park Advisory Committee, Allegany Franciscan Ministries and Parents of Murdered Children, said it’s “awesome” to see the officers interacting with children every week.
“I do see the changes,” Bradwell said. “They have made a difference.”
Mimms said these kinds of programs, as well as officers going into school classrooms and reading to students, show children they can walk up to officers, talk to them and get help.
“I want every child to know that the police are their friend,” Mimms said.
He’s also proud of programs that involve the department in the community, such as the “Tip a Cop” event in which officers work as servers to earn tips that are donated to Special Olympics Florida.
“I am just thrilled seeing what has transpired —seeing our police officers be integrated into the community,” Mimms said.
Pay, jobs
Hobley-Burney has made tweaks to the hiring process and increased officers' pay.
Different questions are being asked in polygraph and psychological exams during the hiring process, she said. For example, there are questionsabout affiliations to see if there’s any discrimination.
“I want to make sure their mindsets meet the criteria to go out there and treat my people — our citizens —fairly and use their discretionin the right way,” Hobley-Burney said.
She's hadsome push-back.
A lot of officers who didn’t have "the vision of the future"left, she said.
“And I’m fine with that,” Hobley-Burney said. “That allowed me to hire the individuals with the standards that we are looking for.”
In September, the City Commission approved an 8 percent raise for this year.
Fort Pierce mayor pledges more money for police after grand jury report
The starting salary for an officer is $41,040 compared to $38,000 two years ago, Cunningham said.
“That placed us in competition with other surrounding agencies,” Hobley-Burney said.
Two officers who left for better pay elsewhere returned, she said.
Officer Gary Eason, a detective who worked at the department for seven years before heleft for the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department for a year,was sworn in again in Fort Pierce on April 13, Cunningham said. Officer Joselito Simon, who worked in Fort Pierce for two and a half years before he went tothe North Miami Police Department for four months, returned in March.
Police relations with the community are improving, Hobley-Burney said.
“They are providing us with tips with a number of things," she said. "They want a safe neighborhood.”
The Rev.Kenneth Mills Sr., a 63-year-old Fort Pierce native,gave kudos to the city for its financial investment into the department and said a lot of positive things have been happening because of it.
He’s noticed new police officers. He’s seen them more in schools and in the Lincoln Park area.
“I see our chief of police all over the community —that’s something this community isn’t used to,” Mills said. “If this can continue for the next three to five years, there is going to be a turning point.”
Reform
Months before the Semer shooting, Hobley-Burney signed up the Police Department for a U.S. Department of JusticeOffice of Community Oriented Policing Services program called Collaborative Reform.
Federal officials evaluate the Police Department and find what it’s doing well and what it needs to improve, she said.
The federal teaminterviewed community stakeholders, the police chief and other Police Department leaders, said Najla Haywood, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice. It also reviewed police operations and training procedures,and had two community listening sessions.
The team is in the process of developing goals and objectives for the city’s assessment, Haywood said.
“It’s like a report card,” Hobley-Burney said. “I want that because I want us to be a department of excellence.”
Fort Pierce Police Department internal investigation reveals more details
