Four months after the death of Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs, applicants vying for the office gathered to address the community’s public safety concerns.
After 170 applicants applied, the candidates were narrowed down to four: Reo Hatfield, deputy police chief for the Virginia Beach Police Department; Victor Medico, a Fort Myers Police Department (FMPD) captain; Gina Hawkins, retired Fayetteville police chief; and Jason Fields, acting major for FMPD. The candidates were available for public questions Thursday at the Collaboratory downtown.
Dunbar resident Velma Black Smith, 64, said she has concerns about officer conduct in her neighborhood, and she wants to see change.
“The police aren’t policing,” she said. “They’re strong-arming. They come into the Dunbar community and wreak havoc. You see them sitting everywhere, waiting to pounce.”
Black Smith is a reverend at Apostolic House of God on Lincoln Boulevard. She said she asks officers not to park at the church.
“I don’t want them there in the community thinking that I am in alliance with them getting ready to arrest or do whatever,” she said.
Candidate Hatfield believes district commanders need to meet with the public and speak to them about the problems they are experiencing.
“What we see as police is not always the problem for a community,” he said. “We may see it as a drug problem, but the community may see some other quality-of-life issues that can be easily addressed, that it’s low-hanging fruit that we can address right away.”
Hatfield said FMPD needs to partner with businesses and churches. “Our faith-based community is also vitally important,” he said. “They’re a tap to our youth, a tap to our senior folks as well.”
Martin Byrd, an East Fort Myers resident all his life, was interested in the candidates’ philosophies on the treatment of citizens.
“You can’t treat everybody the same,” the 30-year-old said. “Everyone has different needs, so we have to take that approach. So that’s probably the type of chief I’m looking for, is one that’s going to serve the whole community, but in the way that those parts of the community need.”
Byrd wants an increased police presence in his neighborhood, as well as community outreach and officer involvement.
“The police would need to be a partner when it comes to making areas appear safer for people to go through,” he said. “And I think that helps them as well, whether that’s lighting, whether that’s presence, and not just an abundance of presence, [but] positive presence.”
Medico, who has worked for the department since 2000, said current engagement efforts are not enough because of population growth. In addition to spending “a lot of time outside the four walls of the police department,” he wants to hold public forums for citizens to express concerns and meet department members.
“We are 250 sworn and another 100 or so civilian employees,” he said. “I have to train all of them to be community policing officers, to engage in their community in every aspect of everything they do in the department. I think that force multiplier will help engage the community, to build trust, build legitimacy.”
Shannon Murphy moved just outside of Downtown Fort Myers a year ago. Originally from Virginia, Murphy said she feels there may be a misconception about crime increasing due to people moving from out of state.
“There’s a perception that all the new people are causing the crime,” she said. “Is there a rise? Is there not?”
Murphy does not have safety concerns about where she lives, but she wanted to see what candidates plan to do to be proactive against crime.
“I want to just hear what the candidates have to say for my community,” she said. “I’m always looking at the different touchpoints in the criminal justice system, and this is an important one. This is a huge one, and it really affects many institutions down.”
Hawkins said she would improve engagement by establishing a unit that ensures that resources are being applied consistently and per the need of each community.
“One community engagement might be viewed differently from another community,” she said. “But all of them are important, whether it be establishing a citizen police academy…looking for the needs and requests from the community, having an opportunity to listen to the community and see what they want to do and what they feel.”
Former Councilman Forrest Banks said the department is doing well the way it is currently running but that there is always room for improvement.
“I hope whoever comes in sort of just comes in and fits in and doesn’t come in and put a few cogs in the wheel until they’ve got their feet really on the ground,” he said. “And if they do that, it’s all going to work.”
Fields, who has 23 years of experience in law enforcement, agrees.
“A lot of the programs and strategies that are already in place, I think we should continue those,” he said.
However, Fields wants to invest more in programs involving school resource officers and youth, particularly the Police Athletic League (PAL), which provides sports and educational programs to children at little or no cost.
“We can't always measure the success of that,” he said. “But the kids involved in sports, they're less likely to be committing crimes.”
Fields wants more open forums so citizens can voice their opinions. “Being available, being in the public, attending meetings, listening to people, I try and do that a lot more these days, listen more and talk less,” he said.
Kevin Anderson, the mayor of Fort Myers, was “impressed” with the four candidates.
“I’m very optimistic that, no matter which candidate is chosen, we’re in good shape,” he said.
Anderson, who had a 24-year career with FMPD, said his concern is recruiting and retention. “We can’t do other programs if we don’t have the human resources to do the job,” he said. “I think the community engagement is critical…I know that if you have the trust of the community, it makes it a little easier to solve crimes. If you don’t have that trust, you struggle.”