AP Police Push On After Mercurio

AVON PARK - As Avon Park Police Chief Frank Mercurio steps down today, the officers under him say it will be "business as usual" as Cmdr. Michael Rowan becomes the acting chief. Seeing Mercurio leave, they said they were shocked, upset and still hurting over it.

"As the week goes along, it doesn't get any better," APPD Detective Sgt. Jason Lister said Thursday. "You're not going to find a sworn member of this staff that's not going to give you the same feelings."

Lister and six other APPD officers contacted by Highlands Today were almost monolithic in their sentiments, but they said that they would remain with the department despite the situation.

"We're professionals here. We'll continue to do our jobs here because we're professional," Det. Daniel Burke said.

Burke could not think of who the next chief could be without thinking about the outgoing one. "Who do you think we're going to replace him with? These are big shoes to fill."

Even though Burke and Lister have been with the department before Mercurio became the chief, other officers like Det. Jacob Bratten have not been around nearly as long. Bratten, who was hired six years ago and had no prior experience in a police force before coming here, said he didn't believe Mercurio was leaving until he saw him cleaning out his office.

Mercurio's Farewell

Mercurio showed no regret over his time as the police chief.

"I'm going to hold my head high," he said earlier this week.

Repeating some of the points he made during his press conference last week, Mercurio said his department cut down the city's crime since 2000 when he replaced Tony Velong because he encouraged a "pro-active" enforcement.

Defending that approach, he showed a newspaper article reporting the arrest of a man accused of sexual molestation after he was stopped for missing a bicycle light. He said he'd leave that article on a wall for his officers to look at.

He plans to continue looking for a new position, though he did not list any prospects.

Mercurio was asked to resign last Tuesday after the outgoing chief had a vocal dispute with the city council during a budget meeting in July. He and Avon Park Councilman Doug Eason argued over a mileage chart that suggested several officers were violating the city's vehicle take-home policy. Mercurio since stated the chart was fraudulent, though City Manager C.B. Shirey said he asked Mercurio to resign because the council lost confidence in him.

The city began advertising for Mercurio's position. Rowan said Thursday afternoon that he intends to send an application, and added he hoped to continue Mercurio's "dilligent" efforts.

"It takes a very long time to build up a relationship between a department and a city council, and it only takes a very short time to break that relationship up," Rowan said. "First thing we need to do is build back up that relationship."