Polk County News | Photos | Breaking News

Haines City Police Department Faces Future

Posted Nov 14, 2008 by Jennifer Leigh

Updated Nov 14, 2008 at 04:04 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.