https://www.reddit.com/r/StPetersburgFL/comments/1ifk95i/st_petersburg_police_department/
created by waterflowing0 on 02/02/2025 at 00:04 UTC
15 upvotes, 43 top-level comments (showing 25)
Hello everyone, I curious on what’s y’all take on SPPD? I would appreciate the good, the bad, etc. thank you.
This post is no way intended to be political. I’m job prospecting at the moment and would like to see what the local populous options are.
Comment by amboomernotkaren at 02/02/2025 at 04:18 UTC
18 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My son was brutally attacked last year. The police showed up immediately and made an arrest and they got my kid to the ER in record time. Without them and their team he would be dead instead of sending me funny memes. He was bleeding to death when they arrived. So A+.
Comment by rumrunner9652 at 02/02/2025 at 10:20 UTC
16 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I had video showing tag # and face of someone who smashed into my car while parked. I also had a neighbor witness the event. Guess who was not interested in pursuing this matter? SPPD told they did not witness it and could not prove who was driving. Would they watch the video footage? No. Too busy.
Comment by ilikelickinglamps at 02/02/2025 at 13:03 UTC
25 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Someone ran a red light and smashed into my car, destroying it. They let him off with a warning because he was a cop too. Otherwise, I think it's stupid that their cars say "Police Police" on the back.
Comment by nottke at 02/02/2025 at 02:40 UTC
9 upvotes, 0 direct replies
This sounds like someone is writing an article for a local Facebook page.
Comment by tpaavi8trix at 02/02/2025 at 17:14 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When a friend was in a serious car accident downtown last year, they were terrifically helpful and completely professional. I was impressed with the officers I interacted with at the hospital.
Comment by that_nature_guy at 02/02/2025 at 20:11 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Not very proactive, it’s simultaneously a good and bad thing.
Comment by stpeteslim at 02/02/2025 at 21:23 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Clean cars; handcuffs not too tight; 4 stars will definitely get arrested again.
Comment by SpookyBookey at 02/02/2025 at 16:44 UTC
13 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I called them about someone coming onto my property intoxicated and threatening me, and they ended up taking the random persons side over mine. I’ll never call them again if I feel unsafe.
Comment by StatisticianTop4829 at 02/02/2025 at 12:57 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Our street got hit by car thieves, the dumped everything they stole they didnt want in my yard. Cops were taking neighbors info told him about the stuff, they didnt even bother to look at the stuff they left. Called again and they sent someone else out.Some care some dont
Comment by Harmlesss at 02/02/2025 at 17:36 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
The only good police interaction I've ever had was Clearwater police after my mother was carjacked. That detective and her entire team worked overtime to help and they did end up recovering her vehicle and prosecuted that man that held her at knifepoint.
The only interaction I've ever had with SPPD was the school resource officer positions and honestly they were great people. Never had any issues, formed a friendship with the one in high school.
I feel like you're going to hear more negative than positive though when it comes to police interactions though.
Comment by ImpossibleStuff963 at 02/02/2025 at 19:50 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Dude, this is Reddit. People hate police here.
Comment by FloridaFlipper at 02/02/2025 at 15:19 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Born and raised here in St. Pete. I have been pulled over MULTIPLE times for being well.... white in the hood.
Cop pulls me over.
Sir, why are you in this area?
To go home?
Proceeds to ask to search my vehicle I say no.
They get dogs that "Hit" on my vehicle.
They search it for 1.5 hours and find nothing.
Tell me "You're lucky this time."
Largo PD and Sheriff is even worse. P.S I don't have anything on my record at all.
Comment by CheesecakeOk3036 at 02/02/2025 at 12:54 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Comment by JayGatsby52 at 02/02/2025 at 03:17 UTC
16 upvotes, 0 direct replies
As a heterosexual white male with no record, a job, a home, a college education, and a nice car - I’ve got no issues.
Comment by tedy4444 at 02/02/2025 at 05:30 UTC
18 upvotes, 0 direct replies
overall, they’re decent and usually reasonable. response time is fantastic compared to most places. they’ve never beat me up, so that’s cool too.
Comment by Justin33710 at 02/02/2025 at 03:00 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I've had my issues with them but compared to other local departments they are one of the better ones. Definitely room for improvement on their part but also they could be much worse
Comment by OptimalScholar4048 at 02/02/2025 at 21:19 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In Jungle Terrace, they're here when you need them, and just around the corner when you don't. Great area.
Comment by sunflowers789 at 02/02/2025 at 16:00 UTC
15 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We are a Black/Latin family. Never had any interaction with them and never want to.
Comment by Kind-Bodybuilder-98 at 02/02/2025 at 00:40 UTC
10 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Comment by PracticalWitness8475 at 02/02/2025 at 14:37 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Better than other cities in Florida to work for probably but seem to do the least for citizens. Someone I know drove drunk into a light pole destroying it and the cop let him go home with no complaint. Only time they harassed me is for not seeing who shot in my yard leaving casings… cops said I was supposed to look out while shooting going on and wfh. Tons of drunk drivers they ignore. Compare this to Orlando where they brought a helicopter and surrounded my home when I had a garage intruder. As a job you won’t do much especially no stadium games.
Comment by japplepeel at 03/02/2025 at 01:55 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They only show up when there is a dead body or you are parked illegally. Otherwise, they are inconsequential.
Comment by Ms_HotMess_ at 02/02/2025 at 23:00 UTC*
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My experience is way over a decade ago, before we had medical MJ & the big cities in fla decriminalized small amounts of mj.
I found an oddly high amount of young adults stuck paying into the system from being caught with minor amounts of mj. They all had patrol officers they had to pay, they had strict work hrs approved & had to call in at specific times from a home #. I found this to be insane & detrimental to the young adults futures.
My own run in with them towards the end of this period was traumatic for me. Enough that I have ptsd now when I see any uniformed officer anywhere.
I had a medical emergency due to paradoxical reactions to a medication (instead of calming me, it made me paranoid, irrational, violent & suicidal). Hubby called 911 to get me to the ER. Cops showed up with guns drawn on me. Another set tried to convince my hubby I was actually trying to kill him & I was dangerous to society. He told them he only asked for paramedics.
When the paramedics finally got there, I guess I was so freaked out by thought of getting baker acted (& forced to take meds that I was avoiding due to my propensity to paradoxical reactions to most meds used in such cases. IE: Which is exactly why I was on a brand new med for anxiety that wasn’t supposed to cause that. But it did.)
I ended up getting assaulted by the cops grabbing me & yanking me off my seat, jerking my body so bad, I got whiplash & my shoulder rotator cuff was damaged.
The cops made up some crazy story that I was on ‘Street Drugs’ (I wasn’t), that I tried to MURDER him (I didn’t) & charged me with felony assault plus other crimes that never occurred. They were set on trying to ruin my life. All charges were dropped, but it will remain on my record for the rest of my life unless we get a Democrat governor who will grant them removed from my record.
I will NEVER trust ANY cop in St Pete or even Pinellas over this. They were set to throw my entire life away because they wanted to do what? Prove I was a dangerous 82lb woman who was devastated by the loss of her child & was trying to stop the nightmares & stress of her death so I could SLEEP. They KNEW this yet STILL assaulted me, filed false charges LYING about what really happened.
Now I have severe deadly reactions to the sun due to lupus & when I was still trying to drive myself to dr appts, I lived in fear of getting pulled over & them running my name, forcing me to get out of my UV protection cape, hood, hat, gloves & be assaulted by them again.
Now I no longer drive at all. My fear will never vanish.
Comment by BigTwitchy at 02/02/2025 at 19:44 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
There are some areas that are overpoliced in a sense, but wouldn't be if they arranged them in a more effective way. For instance, every weekend we have about 20 or more police in the area around Central between 1st and 3rd. And every first Friday of the month we hold an event (called First Friday) where it is upped to about 30. I drive Uber in the area and have to be extremely cautious when driving through because there are an EXTREME amount of stupid drunks who walk out into moving traffic when they do not have the right to cross. Because of this, I have witnessed multiple people get hit over the past 4 years. And despite there being 20 to 30 cops, or even more, NOT A SINGLE ONE watches the crosswalks. This has even resulted in some deaths, but nothing is done. I understand the need for police there and am grateful for their presence, but it needs to be an effective presence, and it is not. With other events, such as those at Tropicana field, they have a far FAR more effective presence with crossing guards, overall security, and response (although their response is great everywhere). After these events things are more effectively coordinated and safe.
Speaking of their response and timing, in my experience this is amazing, except in one possible area. Being an Uber driver and driving around a lot, I see a lot of shit. In my years I have seen several drunk drivers, fights, people on drugs endangering themselves (more on this in a minute), thefts, and other odd things. I probably have had to call the police about once every two months. For instance, I once had to call for help on a homeless man who was clearly on something and was dancing and flailing around on the sidewalk and then unfortunately trying to jump into traffic to hurt himself. I and several other drivers nearly hit him as he was continuously throwing himself into traffic. I immediately called and within about 1.5 minutes or less 2 squad cars arrived and helped calm the man down and got him help. They were also comforting the man as he was quite distressed. The only area i think they could be better, is for when I have had to call in for a drunk driver. So far, I have never had an officer find me and stop these drivers, and they were all CLEARLY drunk. Just recently I had to call on someone who was swerving across multiple lanes, nearly hit 3 cars and a few concrete dividers. I followed them at a safe distance while giving directions for where they were for about 7 or 8 minutes before they ran 3 red lights and I lost them. However, this intially began on the highway which I believe is up to state police, until they got onto ST Pete roads.
Outside of these cases, I don't really have much experience and so I cannot say how they are. However, I have not heard anything bad other than someone bashing for more political or ideological reasons.
Comment by Rawka_Skywaka at 03/02/2025 at 18:25 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Lmao cops in Florida don't do shit. I broke up a knife fight at a dunkin donuts one time and asked a random bystander to call the cops. Cops didn't arrive until 20 minutes later. 2 people had gotten slashed and one more had been punched in the mouth.
Roommate's ex boyfriend tried to B&E after he got high on coke, they said they couldn't do anything until he entered the home even though he was in our backyard. Thankfully he was a skinny weak fuck and even though he tried to kick down the back door, it didn't break.
Other roommate got hit by a car going 35 in a publix parking lot. Ambulance came in a few minutes. Cops didn't show up for another 45 to question the driver.
Comment by Hot_Psychology727 at 02/02/2025 at 21:14 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Slashing tents in tent city didn’t leave a good taste in my mouth in terms of the st Pete police