56: A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Podcast

Looking for a meaningful job? We’re a lot more than just uniformed deputies on the road! In this episode of 56, we talk with our three HR recruiters about the almost endless possibilities here at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Your hosts Ricky, Ashley, and Laura love working here, and we think you would too. Whether you’re fresh out of school and just starting out, or mid-career and needing...

Corporal Jim Lancia is (to the best of our knowledge) the only 56 guest to have been ambushed with a Tommy gun. He has so many tales of adventure and danger that he said getting stabbed under his vest during a domestic wasn’t even a big deal compared to all the times he’s been shot at. After years as a law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania, plus a stint training K-9s for Navy SEALs, he came to t...

Deputies can’t walk to calls – gone are the days of the beat cop on foot patrol – so the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office depends on Michael Vecchione, manager of the Fleet Services Division. His career took him from BMWs to firetrucks to PCSO’s Tahoes, armored vehicles, the command bus, and more. On this episode of 56, find out how you take a basic Tahoe and upfit it to a state-of-the-art police...

Some forensic scientists train for years in the classroom, only to discover on their first real crime scene that they don’t have the stomach for the job. Not so for Forensic Science Supervisor Lisa Murphy. When she pulled up to her first dead body – a shotgun suicide – and said, “Wow, there’s a piece of skull!” she realized this was the perfect job for her. Since then she’s worked some of the gris...

In this episode, we bring back one of our favorite guests – and we’re not just saying that because he’s our boss. On his last visit you got to learn the history and career path that made Sheriff Bob Gualtieri the sheriff he is today. Now we talk more about some of the issues that are near and dear to the hearts of Pinellas County residents, and issues that have far-reaching implications across our...

For a guy who became a cop because of Super Troopers , Lieutenant Matt Thornton is doing pretty well in law enforcement. He started his career in the jail, where he was known as the “Inmate Whisperer” for his ability to calm inmates with psychological issues. When he went to Patrol, he realized that deputies are first and foremost members of the community, and that it’s hard for people to yell at...

Deputy Syeeta Robinson-DeBerg is the kind of person who will ride a bike down stairs without worrying about how she’s going to stop at the bottom. If it’s a new challenge, she wants to try it – and do better than anyone else. Syeeta says she’s always liked kids and drugs – not in a creepy way – and so a career in law enforcement was perfect for her, helping kids and getting drugs off the streets....

Snooki, Tigger… Corporal Justin Fineberg is a man of many names but a singular purpose: to get the bad guys so victims can sleep peacefully at night. His hometown of Boston almost got to keep him, but when color-blindness disqualified him up there, he succumbed to the lure of our snow-free winters and joined PCSO. Now he’s a member of the K-9 unit and along with his dog Beau (“because he’s handsom...

Talk about rising through the ranks! Chief Deputy David Danzig is the number-two man at PCSO, second only to Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, and has done just about everything at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO). Coming from a law enforcement family, he knew he wanted to be a cop practically since he was a baby. In fact, his reward for potty training was a ride in cruiser running lights and sire...

In this episode we talk with Detective Jason Plumb, who has spent a lifetime saving lives, first as a paramedic, then as an officer in the insanely busy Rochester, New Hampshire PD. A chance meeting with some PCSO deputies made him think the grass might be greener down here. It certainly was – and not just because it wasn’t covered in snow half the year. He liked it so much he even brought five of...

In this episode we talked with “the world's most uninteresting man,” Deputy Chuck Skipper with the Crime Prevention and Community Awareness Unit. If you’ve seen some of our creative safety videos, Chuck’s face is a familiar one and you know he’s anything but uninteresting. He has a passion for crime prevention and will do almost anything on camera for the sake of good messaging, but there’s so muc...

In this episode we talk with Assistant Communications Center Shift Supervisor April Bonnemann, whose world moves at a mile a minute as she gives deputies the crucial information that keeps them safe in their dangerous job. She might not be on-scene, but she still gets all the stories, from the man who caught an alligator in the bedroom with his wife, to the hopeful Romeo who stole a semi-truck to...

In this episode we talk with Sergeant Jake Viano, who was raised in Long Beach during the height of gang violence and grew up to become the hero who saved Corporal Matt Aitken’s life when he was ambushed and shot during a K-9 track. As if that isn’t enough, he had a professional baseball career in between. Hear about the life-and-death fashion choices a kid has to make when navigating between the...

You don’t have to do much to become one of the best-known people at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office – just get shot three times (once in the neck), and fight through surgery, physical therapy, fears of painkiller addiction, and the monsters in your own mind to emerge stronger than ever as a powerful example of how to not only survive but thrive through adversity. Corporal Matt Aitken is best...

In this episode we talk with Tactical Paramedic Supervisor Joey Greco, who carries guns AND tourniquets. If he ever has to shoot you, he’ll probably be able to save your life afterward. Joey is one of the TacMeds who train with SWAT and accompany them on callouts, positioned in the hot zone. Although he’s not on the entry team, he’s trained to respond under fire if one of the SWAT operators is har...

Jana Demperio could have been a professional stand-up comic, but instead she’s a deputy currently working the desk at our North District Station. She’s done Patrol, Street Crimes, Community Policing, and was a School Resource Officer, but thinks that working the desk is at least as challenging as any of those. The public thinks she can fix any problem, has a skewed perception about what constitute...

In this episode we talk with Lieutenant Dave Stang, a man so powerful he can lose eight pints of blood – the amount in an average human – and still be standing, a veritable Paul Bunyan who was running a chainsaw in the timber business at age 11, and was hired as a firefighter before he even finished high school. As a young man he never thought about going into law enforcement, but his superhero or...

In this episode we talk with PCSO’s answer to Bones – only better because she’s real! Dr. Meredith Tise is not only a forensic anthropologist, she’s also our Forensic Quality Assurance Coordinator, making sure that our Forensics Division is held to the highest standards. She started in a morgue as a teenager, and her work has taken her from the border to body farms as she perfected her knowledge e...

In this episode we talk with possibly the happiest man in the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office: Sergeant Jimmy Fortner. He began his career in a super max prison where stabbings, overdoses, hangings, and attacks on guards were commonplace. Now he works at the Pinellas County Jail, which despite the best resources and training can still be fraught with danger. Jimmy is an imposing six-foot-six and...

In this episode we talk with the man himself, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. It’s hard to believe he was once an innocent young rookie taking calls for noise complaints and trespass warnings, but those who have heard him call out, “Car 1, 10-50,” on his way home know he hasn’t forgotten his roots. Sheriff Gualtieri started out at the Pinellas County Jail and was an officer in Dunedin before joining the Pi...

In this episode we talk with SWAT Supervisor, Sergeant Brian Diebold, a man described by many as a tactical genius. A man who isn’t afraid of anything… except joining us on the podcast. Tune in to find out what he reveals about his long and varied career – and then tell us what he’s leaving out! After years of kicking in doors and catching murderers, Brian is now the guy who has to stay back by th...

In this episode we talk with Lieutenant Freddie Hayes who according to a reliable source is, pound for pound, the best at just about everything. Of course Freddie himself is the reliable source, but we haven’t found any evidence to contradict him yet. Whether it’s being locked in a pod alone with 80 inmates or wrangling a poop-covered intake, Freddie can do it all. He leads the Corrections Respons...

In this episode we talk with Assistant Forensic Science Supervisor Rhonda Klein, the “Queen of the Meth Labs” who has processed some of the most interesting – and most disgusting – crime scenes imaginable. From hoarder houses to bodies so decomposed that they’re barely recognizable as human, Rhonda has seen it all. She initially trained as a deputy but later followed her first passion for Forensic...

In this episode we talk with Deputy Jill Constant of the Marine and Environmental Lands Unit. From rescuing manatees in distress to braving seas that are too rough even for the Coast Guard, Deputy Constant helps keep our waterways safe. After a childhood spent learning the value of preserving natural resources she knew she wanted to combine environmentalism with her desire to put bad guys in jail....

In this episode we talk with Major Adrian Arnold, who currently oversees our Judicial Operations Bureau but whose 30 year career includes stints in nearly every part of the agency. His entire future was launched with a single trial ride-along in Michigan, but the promise of snow-free winters combined with the idea that being a Florida cop would be a little like Miami Vice lured him to the PCSO. Ma...