The City Commission’s final public hearing on the 2017-2018 budget ended with chants of protest after commissioners approved $335,000 in funding for the Plant City Police Department to purchase an armored tactical vehicle.
Nearly 15 people spoke Monday during the mandatory public hearing to ask why priority is being given to the purchase of an armored vehicle instead of measures being taken for accountability and transparency in the wake of the July shooting death of Jesus Cervantes by two Plant City police officers. It was the only contested area of the budget during the hearing.
Cervantes, a father of four with no previous criminal convictions, was shot and killed by Plant City police officers Gerald Baker and
Derek Hartmann July 6 after police said Cervantes made a frantic 911 call requesting help. The call ended with Cervantes being chased by police and shot after crashing into a BP gas station on Park Road. Police said Cervantes attempted to run an officer’s vehicle off the road, prompting the chase, and refused to show his hands after the crash, causing officers to fear for their lives and shoot.
Following the conclusion of an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office issued a letter Sept. 6 stating the use of deadly force was justified.
Since the Cervantes shooting, members of the Bay Area advocacy group Restorative Justice Coalition have been attending city commission meetings to ask commissioners for reforms in PCPD they think will prevent future deaths and allow for more transparency, including the implementation of body cameras.
“Your community asked you for accountability. We asked you for transparency. We asked you for funding for body and dash cameras and what did you do? You ask for an armored vehicle,” Justin Garcia, a Plant City resident, said. “One which costs over five times what it would cost for steps toward trust in your community. In your highlights you say your vehicle is for protecting citizens. But who does it really protect? It protects those inside the vehicle. And from what? The Plant City riots occurring every weekend?”
Jack Myers, a local pastor who gave the meeting’s invocation, said he supports the funding of the vehicle because it could help in “desperate” times.
“I’m for the vehicle,” Myers said. “And the reason why is because if Irma hit us at a category five, people would get desperate. When they get desperate they loot, they’ll even kill.”
Myers said he also believes dash and body cameras would be a good investment, but he trusts in the commission’s decision making.
“I do believe that we should have some body cams and dash cams. It’s a great investment as well, but there’s always a reason why there’s something that’s going to be presented and somebody looking into the future,” he added. “I believe the commission, when they begin to present items, they look at things in the future. I don’t think they waste tax payers money.”
Sydney Eastman countered Myers’ assertion.
“That sounded like a joke,” Eastman said. “The response to desperation is provision, not force.”
Police Chief Ed Duncan said first responders are called off if winds exceed 45 to 50 mph. The vehicle would allow PCPD to respond to any disaster, natural or manmade.
“To not be able to get some sort of resource or help to them,” he said, “that would be devastating for us.”
Each year, Duncan said, PCPD is allotted funds to purchase new vehicles. This year, he extended the life of current vehicles to allow for the purchase of the tactical vehicle without asking for additional funding.
“Giving our officers and all of our first responders the opportunity to perform at a high level of efficiency, I think, is invaluable,” Duncan said. “I know that they are expensive. I know that they are an expensive item. That’s why I looked at the ability to purchase an item like this without an adverse effect to the budget.”
At the close of public hearing commissioners voted to adopt the budget without commenting on the public hearing or making any adjustments.
“I already had the information I needed,” Mayor Rick Lott said. “There was no new information that night that was given to me to persuade me not to support that item in the budget.”
After the budget’s approval, members of the RJC began chanting and were removed from City Hall. They stood outside, chanting with signs until the building closed. Members chanted at Lott as he walked to his car and drove away.
Following the meeting, Eastman, outreach coordinator for the RJC, said the group went to City Hall with no intention of protesting in the middle of the meeting. However, members of the group were outraged after commissioners passed the budget without making any comments about the statements and questions from the public hearing.
“Our original plan was just to hear what they had to say,” Eastman said. “We had a lot of questions and we still haven’t had answers to those. We didn’t have any plan to disrupt the meeting.”
Eastman said Lott told the RJC he’d be willing to meet with them after the investigation into the shooting concluded.
“He said we’d have to wait until the FDLE investigation was over,” She said. “Now that it is, we still haven’t heard anything. Aside from the frustration we are feeling, I think others are starting to feel the frustration with a governing body that doesn’t listen to their constituents.”
Lott said he would be happy to have a meeting with RJC founder Angel D’Angelo, with whom he said there is a mutual respect.
In 2014, just before Duncan took over as chief, the City Commission approved using a Justice Department grant to purchase body cameras. However, Duncan felt the department was not prepared to handle the full operational costs of body cameras.
In an email communication with PCPD's Sgt. Dale Peterson, Michael Pridemore, a Temple Terrace police captain, said his department had no additional costs associated with body cameras.
"We acquired our first 22 Wolfcom body cameras through a JAG (justice assistance grant) Direct grant. We then purchased an additional 10 units at $199.00 each," Pridemore wrote. "We were able to utilize our existing WatchGuard server to store the data and have not had any additional costs relating to the cameras or storage."
Duncan said there are no current plans to bring a body camera program to Plant City.
“I know that people have come to the commission saying people are afraid to come and speak on their own behalf,” Duncan said. “I don’t see that and I am in the community every day.”