Community members protest idea of merging FMPD, LCSO

Protesters gathered outside Fort Myers City Hall Monday to demand Fort Myers Police Department and Lee County Sheriff’s Office remain separate entities.

This comes after a council member suggested they merge into one, as Police Chief Derrick Diggs is in line for a new job.

Several people told us they do not want to give up having their own police department, one that knows the Fort Myers community and will serve it better.

Some tell us they fear the progress FMPD has made reducing crime and strengthening community relationships will be lost.

Crystal Johnson considers a “bridging the gap” forum from April with Fort Myers police and the community as a sign of progress.

“Majority is the minority communities, black and brown, poor communities who have been wronged in the past, and it seems to be getting a little bit better,” Johnson said.

Johnson is against disbanding FMPD and giving full control to LCSO, and many of her neighbors agree.

“We hate to lose the momentum that we’ve gained. I hate to see a lot of our officers who have built these relationships possibly no longer be able to work in the community,” Johnson said. “The consensus that I have been receiving is that this is not what we want, not as a community, not as the public.”

Brian O’Reilly says the consensus is the same in his community. He’s a former FMPD internal affairs lieutenant who believes the move could have major impacts on public safety.

“If you go to the county, who knows how many people there you’re going to put in the city? Who knows how many people they are going to have patrolling the streets? Who knows with the response time is?” O’Reilly said. “We want our own police department that we can be in contact with, that we could have oversight up and accountability.”

We spoke to the president of the Gulf Coast Police Benevolence Association. He told us the cost to close out the pensions for the current FMPD officers would be a major cost for the city. This same issue came up in 2013 and the community voted it down.

Some neighbors say they’ll take any chance they can to save money. Councilman Fred Burson says he wants to see if this move could do that. That’s music to Steve Greenfeld’s ears.

“The less I have to pay towards the government, particularly being one of the three zip codes that pay 98% of the freight for the city, that makes a big difference,” Greenfeld said.