Cop told to stop renting rooms to the homeless

[Liberal_in_LA]

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- For five years, St. Petersburg police officer Richard Linkiewicz has embodied the city's efforts to help the homeless.

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Linkiewicz began renting bedrooms to people wanting to move from Pinellas Hope into more permanent, enclosed housing with heat and air conditioning.

Many were disabled people or veterans with small monthly checks, or people who could qualify for $450 monthly housing vouchers from the county or city, so $450 became the rent.

At that price, options are limited, said Sheila Lopez, chief executive of Catholic Charities and founding director of Pinellas Hope.

Unlike Linkiewicz, most landlords require first and last month's rent in advance. Renters also usually pay utilities.

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When the St. Petersburg Times asked to review Linkiewicz's personnel file for this story, the police chief learned about Linkiewicz's renters and gave him a choice: Take a different job within the department or stop renting rooms to people from Pinellas Hope.

http://www.standard.net/topics/features/2011/03/06/helping-homeless-becomes-costly-cop

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. No good deed goes unpunished.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. That's bizarre; why would they care?

He sounds like a cop with a heart.

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. conflict of interest. He's renting to the group he's assigned to assist.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Oh, of course...

That thought did cross my mind.

Thanks!

[Vincardog]

8. So he can't assist the group he is assigned to assist?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Appearance of improriety..it is a big thing if you beleive in ethics in government

I have a hard time anything improper would be happening, but that is how the rules are supposed to work.

[Vincardog]

13. So this 'rule' also applies to the SCOTUS? How about Congress?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

19. Similar intent is in the ethics rules for the Executive Branch

I do not know about Judicial and Legislative.

[TheWraith]

10. I guess from their perspective, he's profiting off of them.

I suppose I can see the point, but it's not like he's forcing them into it, or charging unreasonably.

[robinlynne]

15. making money for doing it is another thing.....

[HEyHEY]

17. Not without permission.

Ouch, my head hurts.

[petronius]

16. I can see why the PD would want to take a look, but after that look I don't really see that

there's a conflict - he's not preferentially providing a police-related service, or treating people differently on the job, and he can't force them to take the rooms. In a general sense I don't think there's any problem with officers entering private (unrelated) business arrangements with people they met through work; it just seems like it's different this time because the non-cops in question were homeless. If other cops are allowed to have roommates (I presume they are), this should be no different.

I wonder if there's some sort of workaround - perhaps having one of the agency people mentioned in the article select the tenants and collect the money - that would provide enough distance and keep the rooms from going to waste...

[Hugabear]

18. Kinda hard to beat the shit out of someone when you're treating them like humans

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-03-04/news/os-sanford-police-internal-justin-col20110304_1_justin-collison-sherman-ware-sanford-cops

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/archive/Caught-on-Tape-NorCal-Police-Beat-Homeless-Man.html

http://www.rainiervalleypost.com/kuow-reporter-witnesses-spd-beating-homeless-man-on-ras-near-mt-baker/

[LiberalFighter]

3. Police chief needs to be fired.

[givemebackmycountry]

5. Not too long ago I read that St. Petersburg was one of the worst cities to be homeless ...

Not exactly the most friendly place if you are down on your luck.
But then again, it's Florida.

[ThomCat]

11. That police chief shows us a good example why that's so.

Here's a police officer doing what he can to make a difference, and the police chief is telling him to stop. :wtf:

Who this officer has as a tenant should be none of that chief's business. That is an off-duty issue, and as long as there is no evidence that it influence his work negatively, it stays an off-duty issue.

As soon as one of these people starts renting, he's not homeless anymore, so it can't be a conflict of interest if this officer only deals with people who are still homeless in his official capacity. His tenant(s) aren't any of those homeless people. They have a home.

This chief is butting in and throwing his weight around just to show that he can, and no good can come of it. x(

[butterfly77]

7. Hateful why..

do they care. Doesn't make any sense at all.

[SoCalDem]

12. Many people rent bedrooms out, BUT if they are smart, they do it on the sly

Many communities have zoning issues with this because if you are in a SINGLE-family community, you legally cannot rent rooms out.

Some communities even have a maximum-occupancy rule, to avoid aunts, cousins, parents from moving in with people. It may seem "mean", but communities do have some authority to set rules.

People spend a lot of extra money to move to areas that do not include multi-family dwellings, and their tax rates reflect it.

The fact that he was collecting their assistance money, in exchange for a place to stay, made him their landlord, and their assistance money was effectively being funneled to him..not them..

The fact that the newspaper knew about it, is what messed up his deal..

He can find renters for the empty house, but if he had 5 renters @450 each, that's $2250.00 a month.. he may have to rent to a single family for less than that,..

[bobbolink]

14. There are so many things that make getting a home next to impossible.

It is time for people to start understanding this.

Thank you for posting.