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| Polk County News | Photos | Breaking News |
Haines City Police Department Faces Future
Posted Nov 14, 2008 by Jennifer Leigh
Updated Nov 14, 2008 at 05:04 PM
The Haines City Police Department is trying to move forward just one day after news broke that Chief Morris West resigned to avoid prostitution charges and his second-in-command, Capt. Mervin Stewart, was taken into custody on felony perjury charges.
Acting police chief, Maj. Michael Pruitt from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, says his first focus is on improving officers’ morale as well as their confidence in the system. “They want to do the right job. They are willing to go out and serve the people of this community. They have not been able to do that in certain instances, and that has created a fear in them. When you have corruption at the top it creates fear at the bottom,” Pruitt said.
Here’s the background on the scandal currently rocking the Haines City Police Department. West initially faced three misdemeanor counts of soliciting prostitution. According to the state attorney’s office, he cut a deal with prosecutors agreeing to resign as chief and give up his law enforcement certification. In exchange, the charges against West were dropped. In a lengthy court document, Stewart is accused of lying to the grand jury about sexual harassment allegations against him as well as a sexual relationship he had with a subordinate. He now faces two felony counts of perjury.
So where does Haines City and its police department go from here? City Manager Ann Toney-Deal says she has three very specific things she wants to see accomplished. She wants to immediately review procedures at the agency to make sure they are not only appropriate but also being followed. She intends to re-attain the police department’s accreditation, which lapsed under West’s tenure. She also plans to launch a national search for a new chief of police.
Pruitt says there must also be some attention paid to the community, which has lost faith in the department because of the scandal. “The relationship has been damaged, and you have to go out and try to rebuild those relationships with the community,” he said.
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Reader Comments
Por (JAMES BROWN) on November 14, 2008 (Suggest removal)
THE CITY MANAGER HAD TO HAVE SO IDEA ON WHAT WAS GOING ON HER HEAD SHOULD ROLL AS WELL
Suggest removalPor (Sharlinda Bolden) on November 14, 2008 (Suggest removal)
Oh how devastating it is to hear such news on national t.v. This is my hometown and I graduated from Haines City High. Stewart is my classmate and he has brought a great shame to the whole community as well as his own family. This hurts deeply to know that he vowed to protect and serve his community just to end up a felon himself. I have associated with West but never would expect this type of conduct. These type of accusations in a small poor community destroys everything that honest people work so hard to accomplish. I pray for the families that this has affected and I thank God for keeping their families together through these terrible times.
Suggest removalPor (Joseph Walter) on November 22, 2008 (Suggest removal)
Unfortunately, many of the “Officers” who were able to get hired during West’s reign, still remain gainfully employed at the Haines City Police Department. I’m talking about people who would have a hard time getting hired at Wal-mart, what with their background issues and overall ineptitude. Some of whom were actually promoted to positions of authority and higher responsibility.While I applaud the work of the State Attorney’s Office, I believe unless the entire house is fully cleaned, the Haines City Police Department will continue to be an embarassment to the citizens of Polk County. When the bad far outweigh the good, you know you have a serious problem on your hands.
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