INDIAN SHORES — Chief Lee Ann Holroyd conducted the Indian Shores Police Department’s first formal inspection in the parking lot of the Municipal Center at 8 a.m. Feb. 23, a muster of officers and equipment she said will become an annual event.
“This inaugural event demonstrates operational readiness and follows the continued commitment to the highest professional standards of our department,” Holroyd said.
All sworn personnel were in full dress uniform and were inspected alongside their individual vehicles — a fleet of a dozen in all. Holroyd performed the inspection with her second in command, Capt. Daniel Doherty.
Holroyd had invited the public to attend via the prior week’s Mayor’s Message. Despite unseasonably cold and windy conditions, three members of the Town Council turned out: Mayor Diantha Schear, Vice Mayor Ellen Bauer and council member Nick Menchise. Retired Chief Rick Swann and several residents also attended.
As the inspection proceeded, Bauer noted that some of the officers had been up all night working a shift beforehand.
“I know this because my husband was a police officer,” the vice mayor said.
Holroyd, the town’s first female chief of police, said she conducted such inspections for 40 years, serving many of those years as team leader of police accreditation for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
“Over those years I assessed lots of law enforcement agencies in the state of Florida,” she said.
Formal inspections cover mandatory requirements confirming that all police equipment needed to serve the public is in proper working order, including batteries and pads for the automated external defibrillators used to resuscitate people in cardiac arrest.
The following day, the department was scheduled for a technical audit with the FDLE to ensure that criminal justice information is kept secure and that data is properly segregated to protect individuals’ personal information related to law enforcement and the courts, Holroyd said.
The inspection took less than 30 minutes. At its conclusion, Holroyd reported that all vehicles and equipment were fully operational.
The chief said officers were encouraged by the turnout, especially given the uncomfortable conditions. One resident summed up the sentiment: “Our police department is great, and we wanted to be here to support them.”