CRESTVIEW — The Crestview Police Department has experienced plenty of change since scandal rocked the agency three years ago, but more work lies ahead, Chief Tony Taylor said.
“It’s an arduous process to rebuild a police department,” Taylor said during a Thursday afternoon media conference. “Sometimes you have to tear something down to rebuild it.”
Taylor referred to scandal under former Chief Brian Mitchell as the agency’s “darkest hour.”
PAST CONCERNS
Key problems leading to departmental dysfunction and loss of citizen trust included corruption, abuse of power “and the good ol’ boy system,” Taylor said.
“There was a lot of distrust, a lot of division in the agency” when he arrived, he said, speaking for his second anniversary with the CPD.
Taylor’s investigations found operational problems including:
•No organizational structure with clear lines of command
•Rampant rumors inside and out of the department
•No vetting process for promotions
•Minimal background checks on new or current officers
•No formal process for receiving and documenting complaints against an officer or the department
•Disconnect with the community
•Unsecured records
•Inadequate policies and procedures that were mostly ignored anyway
ROOTING OUT 'CANCER'
“It was a cultural thing,” Taylor said. “Corruption is a cancer. It metastasizes and spreads. It you don’t root it out, it returns stronger than before.”
Taylor dismissed seven officers — six more resigned while under investigation — and instituted vigorous background checks that exceed Florida Department of Law Enforcement standards.
Renovating the police’s Whitehurst Municipal Building headquarters included building a secure records storage room, moving dispatch functions into the building, and providing round-the-clock resident access.
A new Special Enforcement Team replaced the former Street Crimes Unit — which was disbanded because “it was there the corruption was centered,” Taylor said — and focuses on narcotics investigations.
In addition, the department raised $30,000 in four months to reestablish its K9 unit. “I don’t think that would have been possible without the trust of the community,” Taylor said.
Now, he and command officers are revising the department’s policies and procedures and writing a new mission statement, which will be introduced at an open house next week.
His next goal is to obtain accreditation for the department, which will subject the CPD to even more scrutiny.
“In another year or two, I think we’re going to be where we need to be,” Taylor said.
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Crestview Police Department headquarters' grand reopening
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Dec. 11, Warriors Hall, 201 Stillwell Blvd., Crestview
NOTES: The department will announce its new mission statement as part of the ribbon-cutting ceremony
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview police to reveal new mission statement (VIDEO)