Shades of Blue
From Street Cop to Police Chief
by
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About the Book
The early 1960’s were the years that segregation started to wane and civil disobedience tested police leadership. The police had broad discretion on the use of force including deadly force. Society demanded and pressured police to exhibit restraint and improve professional conduct. Police violence, tragedy, courage, dedication, compassion and misconduct are all revealed in this book. There are stories of police responding to dangerous encounters, humorous cases involving humans, animals and about police officers themselves. There are stories of high stress situations such as high speed chases, officers killed in shoot-outs, heroics in high-risk rescue operations, handling riots and labor strikes. The final chapters bring to light the challenges for a chief, in a small community, surviving a political mind field and with the loyalty and help of a few members in the department, a police organization was rebuilt which resulted in an extraordinary police team of men and women.
About the Author
Chief Joe Pelkington started his career with the Tampa Police Department in 1960 and retiring in 1985 as Deputy Police Chief, then serving more than 18 years, as the police chief, with the City of Treasure Island Florida Police Department, retiring again in 2005. During his year tenure with Tampa he commanded the Patrol Division, Detective Division and the Selective Enforcement Bureau, in the Tactical Division. Then advancing to Deputy Chief, he was responsible for all police operations. Throughout his career, as a young officer and line-supervisor, Joe passed up opportunities to be assigned as a detective, and other positions in the police department. His forte, as he’d tell you, was “patrol.” He loved patrol work and most of his twenty five years with Tampa he served in the patrol operation. He will also tell you it was a significant readjustment to be the chief in a small town like Treasure Island. But he enjoyed the closer contact with the police officers and being on a first name basis with Treasure Islanders.