The Hollywood Police Department (HPD) is a full-service agency servicing a population of 152,511 in 27 square miles (70 km2) of the municipality of Hollywood, Florida.[1] At full strength, the department has 322 sworn law-enforcement officers.[2]
History
Frankie Mae Shivers, murdered in the line of duty in 1982
The police department was established on December 8, 1925, along with the town itself. The department had seven chiefs in its first year of existence as the city council appointed inexperienced locals with little interest in the work.
On September 17, 1926, a massive hurricane destroyed most of the town. The local National Guard unit protected the city as the department was devastated. Captain Clare Stout headed this operation and became chief of the department less than three years later.
The Great Depression hit the town hard. By 1931, policemen were forced to drive their own cars on patrol and pay in part for their uniforms. The next year, the city was unable to meet payroll and issued letters of credit in lieu of salaries.
The number of police officers on the force varied wildly during this period. The department was understaffed, underpaid and led by chiefs who lacked professional training. During this period, the city became a base for organized crime. Despite the legal prohibition of alcohol, many illegal bars and casinos operated undisturbed by the police. "Lucky" Luciano and Meyer Lansky ran their operations from Hollywood. These activities continued into the postwar era, despite periodic attempts by the state to suppress them. Between 1947 and 1951, United States senator Estes Kefauver and the Miami Herald highlighted local corruption and vice. This led to increased pressure that drove the biggest operations to Las Vegas and nearby Cuba.
In September 1980 an unknown number of police officers called in sick as a work action. The department's own website reports that in the 1980s many officers were more concerned with their side jobs as security guards than with their work with the department.
In January 1986, Richard Witt became chief of police. He had served 26 years with the Miami Police Department. He was the first chief of police with professional experience and few connections to the moneyed interests in the city.[3]
Police Chief Rick Stone was brought in to try to reform the troubled and scandal-plagued department in 1996. He filed a RICO (Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization) lawsuit on April 13, 2000, against the Broward County Police Benevolent Association (a chapter of the statewide Florida Police Benevolent Association) and two union bosses, who were also members of the Hollywood Police Department.[4]
In 2007, several Hollywood Police Department officers were implicated in a wide-reaching corruption investigation by the FBI, and a few officers turned state's evidence in order to reduce their potential sentences.[5] Four officers were jailed for trafficking in heroin.[6][7]
In 2009, five Hollywood Police Department officers were accused of trying to cover up a crash involving one of their own officers by lying on police reports. Officer Dewey Pressley is clearly heard on video to "draw little Disney here.." the report and as saying, "if I have to bend the rules to protect a cop I'm gonna." The audio from the incident was recorded by dashboard camera, and was reportedly full of vulgar language.[8] On January 7, 2010, Police Chief Chad Wagner fired five officers involved in the incident.[6] The officers were by that point in their sixth month of paid leave.[6] On April 10, 2012, Officer Joel Francisco was sentenced to ninety days in jail after he pleaded guilty in the original accident. He had been talking on his phone when he hit the other car with his official vehicle. His record shows eight traffic accidents in his twelve years with the department.[6][9] One other former Hollywood officer, Dewey Pressley, is appealing a ninety-day sentence.[6]
On December 28, 2010, Officer Jonathan Commella beat and tasered Arben Bajra while he was handcuffed. Bajra's skull was fractured in the attack and he suffered permanent impairment. Commella had mistaken Bajra for someone else. No charges were brought against either man. In November 2013, the department paid Bajra $195,000. Commella had by then moved on to be a deputy of the Broward County Sheriff.[10][11]
In 2012, the department began to use computer software to call numbers on commercial signs left on roadsides in the city. It reported as much as an eighty percent decrease in these small "snipe signs" in the city limits.[12]
In March 2015, the city paid $240,000 to settle a police brutality lawsuit. The suit alleged that five police officers beat up a man and planted drugs on him. At the man's criminal trial, the officers testified he had ground his own face into the pavement. The case was dismissed.[13] At about the same time, the department lost its state accreditation.[2]
According to a 2017 report by the county inspector general, "The lack of oversight and accountability facilitated the theft of $137,609 and 1,096 pills from the Hollywood Police Department's custody prior to January 2012," but nobody was held criminally liable as a result.[14]
Local news reported in February 2023 that footage from a surveillance camera that had been recently released shows Hollywood Police officers dragging a 69-year-old man they had shot into the victim's condominium's building's elevator.[15] Reporter Rosh Lowe wrote that the police was actively investigating the case.
The department has been credited for a number of innovative improvements in law enforcement efficiency and professionalism. For example, the Hollywood PD was one of the first departments in the state of Florida to mandate college degrees as a prerequisite for promotion to higher ranks, resulting in a number of command personnel receiving graduate and law degrees.[16] It established a formalized field training officer program to properly orient new police officers. It was also among the first to incorporate Community Service Officers to handle routine calls for service including the investigation of traffic accidents not involving criminal conduct thereby freeing up sworn officers to handle more important criminal calls.[17] It was also one of the first departments in Florida to adopt a full set of written policies and procedures, including a detailed use of force policy. It took advantage of advances in technology by acquiring a sophisticated computerized records system that incorporated a dial-in telephone system of recording police reports for transcription by high speed typists as well as an 800-megahertz trunked radio system with mobile data terminals. The computerized records system also provided for standardized computerized probable cause affidavits that greatly improved the accuracy and legal merit of arrests by ensuring that all required elements of any charged crime were included in the arrest affidavit. It was also one of the first departments to acquire a FATS machine to train officers in shoot/don't shoot scenarios.[18] One of the highlights of this reputation for a high degree of professionalism and technical competence was the fact that over ten ranking members of the department went on to become the chief of police at other law enforcement agencies, in some cases winning their jobs over well over one hundred other potential candidates for those jobs.
Chiefs of police
Name
Date Appointed
Notes
Virgil Wright
December 8, 1925
Resigned the next day
George Bausweine
January 15, 1926
Larry Walsh
March 31, 1926
Interim
CC Freeman
July 5, 1926
"Big Bill" Adams
October 5, 1926
Joe Valley
June 12, 1926
The town's first detective
Clare Stout
March 22, 1929
Arthur M. Wittkamp
October 6, 1930
Fired
James Camphart
August 1, 1936
EW Christian
September 2, 1940
James Camphart
November 16, 1941
reappointed
James Lane
September 28, 1943
Acting
Philip A Thompson
February 4, 1947
Died in office
Woody Malphurs
December 28, 1965
"Bud" Naylon
November 1, 1970
Sam Martin
June 28, 1974
Dick Witt
January 16, 1986
Rick Stone
October 1, 1996
Jim Scarberry
January 26, 1999
During this period, the department was under FBI investigation.[19]
Chadwick Wagner
November 3, 2007
Vincent Affanato
Interim Chief
Frank G. Fernandez
August 13, 2013
Resigned to take position for the City of Coral Gables
