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Published on Thursday, May 6, 2004
in the ABC7 News Online
TALLAHASSEE - For the past year, local Florida Highway Patrol troopers have been doubling up and working overtime to make up for a staffing shortage. In Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties there should be 44 troopers on the roads, but there are only 30.
A training academy in Tallahassee is the only place in Florida putting state troopers on the road. All of the recruits have different reasons for joining the FHP. The oldest recruit is 54 and is finally living his dream.
"It's not because of the money or anything else, it's just what I want to do," said cadet Pete Patroni.
The youngest recruit is 19. He's fulfilling a personal vendetta.
"I'm going to try to take some drunk drivers off the road. I had a cousin killed not too long ago by a drunk driver," said cadet Robert Arnold.
Recruits train for six months, twelve hours a day, seven days a week without a break, away from friends and family. They learn driving skills, about traffic laws, to use guns and self defense tactics.
Getting accepted to the training academy isn't easy. It took three months for cadet Quatelious Mosley to be accepted.
"You guys wouldn't believe the background investigation these guys do, they check everything," said Mosley.
State highway patrol officials say the criminal background check makes the pool of applicants to chose from smaller than ever before.
"We have very high standards. A lot of applicants who may have had mistakes in the past may find themselves disqualified from our process," said Chief Sylvester Dawson of the FHP training academy.
Chief Sylvester Dawson says out of hundreds of applications received each year, dozens have histories of drug use, domestic violence, excessive speeding tickets and other crimes. Only those with spotless records are accepted.
Fifteen percent of the training class did not make it through the first two weeks because of the physical training or inability to follow orders.
"As long as you have your mind set on the goal, to graduate, there's not a hard part to it at all," said cadet Saundra Batie.
The cadet class has dropped to just 36 recruits.
Across Florida there are nine FHP troops protecting the entire state. Southwest Florida, troop "F" covers ten counties. There are dozens of vacant positions in troop F.
A population boom has created more work - speeders, traffic accidents, drug busts to name a few- and troopers are stretched thin. With vacant positions - local sheriff's deputies and police officers are helping to pick up the slack. The Florida Highway Patrol can now only respond to the most serious calls.
"The Highway Patrol is challenged to keep up its ranks in the major metropolitan areas, such as Orlando, which has had phenomenal growth, Tampa, the same," said Dawson.
Quatelious Mosley is training for a job he still hopes will take him back home to Lee County, but he doesn't get to decide.
"The house we get rides on this, the family I want to start, everything rides on this," said Mosley.
The number of troopers are dwindling in Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties because in the past year, at least one trooper from each county has retired and nearly the same number have resigned to accept other higher paying jobs in law enforcement.
As few as three of the FHP cadets could be assigned to troop F.
"We're competing with all the other large police agencies and sheriff's departments in Florida for the same qualified applicants," said Dawson.
The competition was created by a decision in the 1990's to increase starting pay for troopers, but that decision backfired. Competition created by a decision back in the 90s to increase trooper's starting pay that backfired. The goal then was to get more people to apply for jobs, but suddenly experienced troopers were making the same amount as rookies. Out of frustration, veteran troopers went to other law enforcement agencies.
This year highway patrol leaders pledged to fix that problem by increasing veteran trooper pay, but in the budget awaiting the governor's signature, law enforcement officers only received an across the board increase, meaning veterans still don't earn much more money than rookies.
Patrol leaders hope the staffing numbers improve by this time next year, but these recruits won't be able to be able to prove it one way or another for roughly six more months.
Once a trooper recruit graduates, they have to go through twelve more weeks of on the job training.