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Tampa Police Chief Talks With West Tampa Residents About Violent Crimes
CHIEF JANE CASTOR
tor that some of them have lost confidence in the police protecting them, and feel they have to protect themselves.
“If something happens in your neighborhood and it im- pacts a family member or someone you know, I’m sure that person’s family would ap- preciate someone stepping up and saying something.
“When the community is protecting the perpetrators of these violent acts, it’s virtually impossible for us to get them off the street.”
Some in the audience wanted to know what was being done to put more African American officers on the street. Chief Castor said that isn’t something she has any control over.
“We are competing with other law enforcement agen- cies for African American offi- cers, and that makes it difficult.
“We also feel having Black officers only patrolling Black communities wouldn’t be the right way to deploy them. The race of the officer should never be a problem, because they are all out there to do the same job.”
Chief Castor said as far
as the District One area is con- cerned, she has added more patrols to cover troubled areas, but she still needs the people to help out.
“The ages of the offenders are getting younger and younger, and that means they are being directed into violent criminal acts. It’s up to the res- idents to intervene and stop that.
“I don’t believe any parent looks forward to attending the funeral of one of their chil-
dren, but that’s exactly what’s been going on. That trend can be turned around, but it has to start with the people.”
Officers will continue to perform checks on teenagers ordered by court to be home at a set curfew. They will also re- main vigilant of people riding bicycles at night without lights.
Chief Castor said she will be holding similar meetings in the District Two and District Three areas.
West Tampa residents and community leaders listen to Chief Jane Castor address violence in their community.
WMNF Radio Host ‘Soul Man’ Taken Off The Air
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
In the first of a series of three meetings, Tampa Police Chief Jane Castor ad- dressed the concerns of West Tampa residents in dealing with the rise in violent crimes in that community.
Officers will be paying close attention to an area in West Tampa that includes Laurel Street, North Boule- vard Armenia Avenue and Columbus Drive. According to reports, there have been eight violent crimes reported this year in that area, and a young man was gunned down at Columbus Court Apartments. Chief Castor said a high- powered rifle was used for that murder, and their investiga- tion has revealed that the shooting as a case of mistaken identity.
The meeting was held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, and was attended by community leaders, residents, and representatives of the
Tampa Housing Authority. Chief Castor first spoke to the group about the dynam- ics of crime in their commu- nity, and what her staff is
doing to deal with it.
“We are aware that there
has been a rise in violent crimes in West Tampa, and we’re poised to deal with it head on, and send out the message to the offenders that we’re not going anywhere.”
Chief Castor appealed to the community to help officers get the bad people off the streets by acting anonymously in reporting who they are.
“Our job is made difficult by the lack of help we get from potential witnesses.
“I’ve always found it fasci- nating how someone could get shot inside a club or lounge, and when you start asking pa- trons if they saw anything, most of them say they were in the bathroom. That must be a pretty big place for so many people to be in there at the same time.”
Residents told Chief Cas-
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
For 34 years, Bob Scheir has entertained a big audience as “Soul Man” on WMNF 88.5FM, an independent sta- tion in Tampa.
Over his 34 year career at the station, Soul Man said the most time he’s ever taken off was when he had open heart surgery in 2013.
“When I came back, I couldn’t get into my assigned parking spot, because some- one had intentionally parked a car blocking off two spaces.”
Soul Man said although things started off fine at the station, over the past few years a “hate relationship” has de- veloped between himself and WMNF’s staff.
“My wife, Betty, is quite ill, and as I was leaving the station to go see her, I stopped to use the restroom. During that time, this crew comes in com- plaining about me.
“Another incident occurred when my aide was confronted during a pledge drive and something very demeaning was said to her. I asked the sta- tion to keep the man who said that to her out of the phone an- swering room, and he refused. He later got in my face, and we had a verbal confrontation.”
Soul Man said from there, the man went up the hall and talked to the program director, who told him he was being suspended.
“First of all, no one asked to hear my side of what hap-
pened. Second, I haven’t been told what I’m being suspended for or for how long.
“I asked why I was being suspended and to come in the next day to discuss it. That’s whenIwastoldIwasno longer allowed to be on the property. Later, I was sent an e-mail telling me to stay off the property.”
In a letter dated February 17th and signed by WMNF General Manager, Craig Kopp, Soul Man was in- formed that he has been termi- nated as a volunteer programmer at the station for continued violations of the sta- tion’s Volunteer Agreement Workplace Violence Preven- tion Policy.
The policy says: “WMNF Radio will not tolerate conduct that threatens, intimidates or coerces another volunteer, em- ployee, or member of the pubic at any time.”
The letter further states Soul Man was suspended for 30 days in May 2013 for viola- tion of the policy and put on probation and had been given verbal reprimands. An inci- dent at the station on February 4th was listed as the cause of termination.
Soul Man said there have been a series of activities going on at the station over the past decade that he feels may have lead to his suspension.
“It appears that there is an effort to get rid of all the old radio hosts, even if they were great at raising funds for the station.”
PAGE 2-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015