The first settlers in an area can set the tone of a city for generations to come. George Jones, who owned a general store, thought he’d claim the town by naming it Jonesboro, but this seemed too conceited for the locals. Not long later two Scotsmen, J.O. Douglas and James Somerville, started the area’s first post office and won the right to rename the city. They chose Dunedin, an old Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, and the Celtic connection has persisted ever since with a sister city in Scotland, annual Highland games, and a high school bagpipe band. Around the turn of the century, when the city was plagued by pigs running rampant through the streets, it was incorporated as a town (later a city) specifically so they could pass an ordinance banning livestock within city limits. Today there’s a lot more going on in this waterfront city that’s popular with tourists and locals alike, and Community Policing Officers (CPO) like Deputy Melanie Stickney make sure everything runs smoothly and safely.

“I’ve been in Dunedin a little over a year now,” she said. “It’s a unique little city. I say little – I know it’s one of the larger cities in Pinellas County, but it always has a hometown feel to it.”

As a CPO, Deputy Stickney deals with a lot of city-specific issues. She’ll attend city commission meetings and work with code enforcement. She usually doesn’t get dispatched on calls, but when the city gets busy she’ll intercept some of them. “Illegally parked cars, neighbor disputes, suspicious persons – we’ll go out and handle those, especially if we see the other deputies tied up on calls.” But a CPO’s job is all about variety. At its heart, the job is about keeping close track of the contract city’s specific needs. “Day to day, what we do changes all the time.” Sometimes that means meetings, but other times she can be proactive to seek out criminal activity in Dunedin. She might run traffic, check out an undercover car to investigate an active warrant, or take a look at the check-in records of local motels to see if there are any known offenders staying there. 

CPOs are liaisons between the contract city and the sheriff’s office, but they are also diplomats. A lot of their job involves negotiating issues that aren’t exactly criminal, but which may lead to problems if they are allowed to escalate unchecked. On a recent shift Deputy Stickney had a talk with a panhandler about the exact wording of the ordinance – he can accept money, but he can’t solicit money. Another issue that day involved complaints about customers parking illegally in the road to access a business, blocking the turn lane. The city put out No Parking signs but the business owner pulled them up. On the second visit when it was explained to him that destroying the signs was a criminal charge the owner was more cooperative, but pointed out that the signs need to conform to the downtown color scheme. “Downtown, all the signs have to be uniform. It makes downtown look clean.” 

Deputy Stickney can monitor Dunedin in her Polaris, patrolling the Dunedin Causeway, or get out on the Pinellas Trail on bike or on foot. “We do a lot of bike patrols in CPO, riding the Trail from the North District Station to the downtown area to see if there is any suspicious activity on the Trail that may not be visible from a patrol vehicle. And being on the bike makes it even easier to engage with citizens.” Making sure residents feel a personal connection with the deputies who protect them is part of her job. Deputy Stickney has learned a lot about Dunedin since she started working here. “Dunedin has so much to offer. I was born and raised in Pinellas County but didn’t know Dunedin well until I worked here. Now I think this is a great place to visit during my time off.”

They get a lot of calls about problems on the Pinellas Trail. “Dunedin is the most highly traveled part of the Trail.” There are calls about e-bikes exceeding the 20-mph speed limit, as well as violations of traffic control devices – in other words, running stop signs. The four-way stop at Main Street and the Trail is one of the trouble spots. Bicyclists blow through the stop sign, but equally problematic are the vehicles that stop for a long time and wave long lines of pedestrians across. It may seem polite, but it puts pedestrians in danger and also creates a vehicle backup. Deputy Stickney emphasizes that both vehicles and pedestrians need to treat that as a four-way stop. 

You may have heard of the Wheelie Boys – at least, they hope they’re internet-famous enough that you know who they are. This loose-knit group of kids loves doing wheelies and other bike tricks in congested areas of the Trail, and then posts videos online. “I get it, they’re kids just wanting to be kids. But it scares people. When you see a bike on one wheel coming at you, you’re going to panic. We ask them to go to a park or someplace more open, but that’s not good for social media – they want the reaction. They’ll also ride on the roadways and purposely stop traffic.” Like with many situations, the CPOs usually try education first. “We talk to the parents, show them videos, and they usually take action. But if we catch the kids causing a disturbance, they may get trespassed from the Pinellas Trail for a year.”

When a deputy dedicates themselves to a city for an extended period of time, they get to know its problems and players intimately. When a call comes out about a suspicious person, Deputy Stickney can often guess who they are just from the description in the call notes. She knows their history and special circumstances, where to find them when they run off, and who their associates are. That knowledge allows her to conduct complex investigations in her city. Before she was a deputy, she was with the Child Protection Investigative Division. “When I was doing the civilian investigations, I found myself wanting to follow up on the criminal side of it.” That’s why she decided to become a deputy. “I love doing investigations. I enjoy the problem solving, piecing things together.” 

The laws are already on the books, and now Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has announced a new initiative that puts those laws to work to curtail the extraordinary number of drivers who flee from deputies. As of June 11, vehicles that flee are subject to forfeiture, meaning they can be seized and sold by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO), with the proceeds going back to the community.  

PCSO only allows pursuits under very stringent guidelines that carefully weigh the risk to the public involved in a high-speed chase against the danger the public would face if that person was allowed to go free. “As we all know, police pursuits are dangerous, particularly in very densely populated counties like Pinellas County,” said Sheriff Gualtieri. Though small in area, Pinellas is the most densely populated county in Florida. On average across the United States, one person per day is killed in a police pursuit – very often an innocent bystander. “That’s a mom, a dad, a husband, a wife, a brother, a sister, killed because someone made the bad decision to flee from the police.” 

“Because of the danger and our desire to protect innocent lives, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office significantly narrowed our pursuit policy in 2014,” said Sheriff Gualtieri. In 2023, PCSO only had five pursuits. But just because we don’t engage in dangerous, high-speed pursuits doesn’t mean that people aren’t fleeing from us. Since January 2022, vehicles have fled from deputies 1,042 times after being directed to stop. 

Sometimes pursuit is necessary. If a person just committed an armed robbery or other violent felony, for example, our deputies may pursue them because the suspect has shown themselves to be a deadly risk to the public. Likewise, if a person is observed before a traffic stop is initiated, driving so recklessly that they present a danger to the lives of other drivers and pedestrians, deputies may pursue. 

But when a driver simply commits a traffic violation and flees, we don’t pursue. The risk just isn’t worth the reward. Fortunately, PCSO has a lot of other resources at its disposal. We can quickly launch one of our three helicopters whose state-of-the-art optics can track a vehicle from miles away, follow it until it stops, and get a clear visual of the driver and passengers when they exit. Through that and other investigative means we can usually find the vehicle and the person driving it later. It’s just not worth risking a catastrophic crash to catch someone now, when with a little ingenuity and patience we can apprehend them hours or even days later. 

Now, thanks to Sheriff Gualtieri’s initiative, not only will the driver face charges, but the vehicle they were driving can be seized and sold. Fleeing to elude is a felony in Florida. The Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act covers various situations in which property can be subject to civil forfeiture. It is most often used in narcotics cases, but the statute covers most property that is used during the commission of a felony – and that applies to vehicles that flee. If the person fleeing owns the vehicle, the situation is cut and dry. If someone loaned them the vehicle, the owner is notified that it was used in the commission of a felony and if it happens again, the vehicle can be seized. Even a rental vehicle could be seized and sold if, after notification, they rent to that person again and they flee a second time. In all cases the vehicle’s owner is notified of the seizure, and they have a certain length of time to request an initial hearing to dispute the forfeiture. After that the case will go before a jury. 

Vehicles flee for a variety of reasons. The driver may be impaired or have a suspended license. They might have drugs in the vehicle or have an outstanding warrant. Some flee because the vehicle is stolen. Obviously if the registered owner is the victim of a crime their vehicle won’t be forfeit, but there may be a careful investigation to make sure they didn’t willingly loan their vehicle and later decide it was “stolen” when they learn the consequences. Anyone trying that tactic could be subject to a charge of filing a false police report.

“The answer to stopping people from fleeing and eluding is not – as some agencies have done – to loosen pursuit policies and chase more,” said Sheriff Gualtieri. “All chasing more does is cause more injuries and more death. The answer here in Pinellas County is to cause a consequence that matters to people who flee from the police.” The sheriff made it simple for anyone who considers fleeing “If you’re directed to stop by the police, stop. If you don’t stop and you run, we’re going to take your car, and we’re going to sell it.”

While some agencies that engage in vehicle seizures use the vehicles in their agency, PCSO has no plans to turn a seized Ferrari into a cruiser. The vehicles will all be auctioned off and the money used for good causes: kids’ events, public service initiatives, and things that do good for the community.