Luke Redd - SDAC Appeal

[Luke Redd]

Trooper's Name: Luke Redd

Organisation: Florida State Police
Rank: Senior Trooper
Department: Highway Patrol
Badge Number (If Applicable): 295

Punishment you were given: 2 Warnings (Originally 10 Points)
Grounds for Appeal (Why should it be overturned): 

a) I believe this punishment should be overturned due to the fact I violated no SOP's in the process of the entire situation. One of the reasons they stated was that "You need to transmit over the radio) I called out over 33.2 that I was placing down spike strips (which they had not let anyone but themselves know they were doing). So of course they didn't hear me say it because they were not on the right frequency. 

b) I was formerly the Captain of Highway Patrol and spent roughly 2/3 of my 3 year career in this division. I know my SOP's like the back of my hand and understand why Highway Patrol was created. Per Global SOP Section 3 Paragraph J "Highway Patrol has priority over ALL 10-80's, 10-38's, and 10-36's." You can also look to HWP Mission statement, which states, "Highway Patrol is responsible for enforcing traffic laws throughout the main roads of Florida; Highway Patrol Troopers are entitled to having top priority when responding to vehicle pursuits, traffic stops, or felony traffic stops. Highway Patrol is also responsible for responding to crimes along the highways." I had every intention of letting DTU chase this car by themselves even though I could've attached to the pursuit and called one of DTU off. I instead placed a spike strip and hoped for the off chance they may strike the spike strip. 

c) This is simply a case of an ego being stepped on. I was simply attempting to do my job and stop a pursuit 1.5km away from where it originated. This idea that it could've been "(i.e, hostage, free passage, no spike agreement, early in pursuit, etc)" is flawed due to the fact this would have been communicated on .2 and I had reason to believe it had been over 15 seconds due to my training and experience over the past 3 years.

d) At the end of the day I could care less about having two warnings. I have shown myself to be someone who can overcome being told they can't do something. I am doing this for the division of Highway Patrol. I care about this division and to encroach more on it does not sit right. Our entire purpose as a department is to assist with pursuits and I honestly thought I was doing the right thing. This was all a culmination of things that created the perfect gray area to have this fester in. To this point I still have not been given a specific SOP I violated and it is not unreasonable for me to think I was able to do that. A spike strip is almost the most distant way I could've gotten "involved" in this pursuit and I attempted to do it in a way that would not step on anyone's toes. 

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Points made in my second appeal 

1. This pursuit was initiated by DTU as the guy fled from the illegal location they raided. That makes it a DTU operation. 

a) this was not communicated to me and there is no reasonable way for me to know this given the time I had to make the split second decision to throw spikes. There was nothing said on .2 when I stated I was throwing spikes. I attributed this to arcadia being the dividing line between .1 and .2

b) If I did know this I still may have done the same exact thing. Regardless of it being a DTU operation it is well known that HWP takes "TOP" priority on 10-80's. Again I chose the minimal route here and decided to spike due to me not being counted in response numbers. \

2. - Throughout the chase, the DTU officers were on .5 while you were announcing your spikes on .2. '' I looked on the map to see multiple DTU units and quickly exited the map and announced on .2 I was placing spikes'' 

a) due to how close in proximity the chasing vehicles were to each-other it looked like a blue blob and I could not tell who they were or what frequency they were on or I would've announced it there. 

3.  The pursuit started at the factory close to Arcadia which is approximately 1.6km out. That would take just about 1 minute in travel time to get from there to Arcadia. My point is, that even though you're not required  to wait more than 15 seconds it is still highly frowned upon to spike a vehicle after that amount of time in an active chase.

a) Based on my training and experience within this server you can hear sirens from approximately 550 meters away. That amount of space takes 18 seconds to cover going at a constant rate of 123 km/h. Between this and knowing the pursuit didn't start only 550 meters ago I had just enough time to get them down just as he was about to pass.

Any evidence to support this: No

 

 

Have you requested reasons for your discipline (if yes, please paste them as a reply to this appeal): Yes, punishment cannot cite an SOP but states "In the future, make sure you are clear to deploy spike strips by transmitting over radio. If you do not have any knowledge of the pursuit, it is best not to involve yourself until you have the appropriate information. There are multiple scenarios that it would not be of best practice to spike a fleeing vehicle. (i.e, hostage, free passage, no spike agreement, early in pursuit, etc) And without having information about the fleeing vehicle, you are unable to make a good judgement call on whether the vehicle should be spiked or not."

Do you know the case against you (have you seen the evidence)?: No

Do you request the Florida Senate Disciplinary Appeal Committee obtain all evidence help by the government in relation to your case?: Yes

Please link your original appeal which must have been denied here: 

 

[Paul Phantom]

@Luke Redd
After reviewing your appeal, I have decided to deny your appeal. 

Below I have listed the following reasons for denying your appeal: 

1. Although HWP takes priority over pursuits, this is not the case for all of pursuits that involve the FSP. Situations that involve special operations such as SWAT/DTU, and unless you are requested as backup you should know that you shouldn't be interfering with their duties unless asked. Its no surprise that if you see a DTU/SWAT operation taking place (such as a suspect fleeing from a location) then you should only involve yourself if asked. This is to keep appropriate response numbers, as well as the people on frequency can make callouts and not have someone who isn't on freq nor knows what the person has fled from, if the person is violent (code red etc). Its easily identifiable on the map to see what frequency people are on, and you shouldn't have place spikestrips unless you had the all clear from the people involved in the pursuit. 

2. You said that you quickly looked up at the map, however you shouldn't just have randomly placed spikestrips even if calling it over the radio. Unless you watched the entire situation on the map (which you would've seen they weren't on 33.2, there would have been no reasonable way you could've know that the pursuit was going on for 15 seconds). If you would've asked on 33.5 to see if DTU wanted spikestrips placed, or they would've come on your freq and asked for them to be placed. 

3. I believe that you had good intentions with the spikestrip, however you had no details of the pursuit, whether the pursuit started in Arcadia, or whether the suspect was trailed before the pursuit started (which would've started the pursuit later). As you've said in your SDAC appeal, and I will clarify here 2 written warnings have no effect against any promotion/transfer path, and your original punishment was even reduced. 


The fact of the matter is, you didn't get a response on the spikestrips, and involved yourself with a pursuit which you didn't have any information on other then you saw DTU chasing a civilian. This has been clarified in the Global SOPs Section 3F Spikestrips to avoid any further confusion in regards to spikestrips.