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St. Pete police chief addresses challenges
The St. Pete police chief was at a community policing forum answering questions about warrants and violence seen in other cities. FOX 13's Briona Arradondo reports.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - Immigration enforcement was a concern among some residents at a community policing forum Wednesday night in St. Petersburg, as the police chief answered many questions about warrants and violence seen in other cities.
What we know:
The violence happening in Minneapolis with Immigration and Customs Enforcement is raising concerns farther south in St. Petersburg.
Roughly 30 residents attended a community policing forum with St. Petersburg Police Chief Anthony Holloway on Wednesday at First Presbyterian Church’s Beach Drive forum event.
One woman who attended the meeting said she volunteers at the food pantry at the St. Petersburg free clinic, and the people they serve are increasingly concerned that ICE is going to come through their doors.
Chief Holloway explained to the crowd what St. Pete officers can and can’t do, using an example.
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"We pull Rick over for a suspended license. We run Rick’s name, and it has an ICE hold on him. Our job then is to contact ICE and have ICE come out and serve the administrative warrant because we can’t serve it. We’re not deputized. Under the 287g some officers will be deputized, and they can serve that warrant," said Holloway.
Dig deeper:
Chief Holloway said the city signed a 287g agreement like everywhere else in Florida, but he said he has not seen ICE activity in St. Pete.
"Our job is to serve warrants and that’s all we do. And we’re not going to go down the street and say ‘can I see your identification’? Our thing is it has to be a lawful stop or an investigation," said Holloway.
Courtesy: St. Petersburg Police Department
Before the talk turned to immigration enforcement, Chief Holloway shared how calls are going with the community assistance and life liaison program or CALL program.
"We’ve gotten calls from other agencies, agencies outside the country asking us how it works because it came about when Mr. George Floyd was killed," said Holloway. "The community got together and they were right. We were responding to calls that didn’t need law enforcement."
What they're saying:
Road safety was also among the concerns for residents like Beth and Rick Corwin.
"There ought to be more enforcement, I guess, of traffic laws, people driving the wrong way on the major highways and not putting their blinkers on," said Beth Corwin, a St. Petersburg resident of 20 years. "We had a death coming out of Eckerd coming into our complex. And we had been petitioning for years and years to get a stoplight where the death happened. We finally have a stop light there."
The conversation ranged from the budget to drugs and even body cameras.
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"Everybody lives in different neighborhoods, and they perceive crime differently. So, I’m going to come to your neighborhood. What do you perceive and crime and what can we do to work together to reduce that fear of crime in your community," said Holloway.
Chief Holloway said he attends community forums every month in different neighborhoods. He said it’s a way for him to hear directly from residents about how St. Pete police can better serve them.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX13’s Briona Arradondo during a community forum with the Saint Petersburg Police Department.