Our program two weeks ago was provided by Rotarian Shane Karlson. Shane’s guest speaker was Plant City Police Department Chief, Ed Duncan.
Chief Duncan assumed leadership of the Plant City Police Department July 7, 2014. He has a long history of law enforcement experience and leadership, including 34 years with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, before retiring in 2012 at the rank of colonel. The Plant City Police Department maintains order and improves the quality of life for our citizens. They are a full service law enforcement agency with a staff of personnel whom are sworn law enforcement officers. The mission statement of the department: “In partnership with the community, and while affording dignity and respect to all persons, our mission is to maintain order, improve the quality of life of our citizens, and develop our members to their greatest potential.”
The Plant City Police Department is comprised of 3 divisions including: Information Services Division, Investigative Services Division, Uniform Patrol Division. Each division is headed by a captain and contains several units. The Plant City Police Department is made up of 71 staff people and covers 30 square miles. Chief Duncan is very particular on who he hires, valuing quality, not quantity, to get the most qualified officers and staff. The PCPD receives between 85,000 and 90,000 calls to service each year. They are a very busy police department. The department writes about 500 tickets each month. Chief Duncan is big on giving “warning” tickets…they are more concerned about safety than giving tickets. There were 9 fatal traffic crashes in Plant City this year. Most of the traffic accidents are coming from distracted drivers. The most common crime in the Plan City area remains theft from cars that are not locked. Surprisingly a large number of guns are stolen from locked cars. These guns then get in the hands of young people that don’t know what to do with them. “Crime Prevention” is the best way to combat crime in Plant City…lock you car doors!
There is a lot of development scheduled for the area and the Police Department is ready for it and planning for the expansion. The PCPD is working on a very prestigious accreditation with over 200 standards to conform to. Chief Duncan is confident that the department will pass the inspection and will receive this great honor.
Chief Duncan took many questions from the club including; texting and driving law, lack of respect for police nationwide, active shooter scenarios, “tip lines” for international/domestic terrorism, gang activity, body cameras and inter-agency sharing of information. The PCPD is a department that we can all be very proud of as they strive to “serve and protect.”
-- submitted by Mike Arndt
