By Tim W. McCann, Bradenton Herald (Florida)
BRADENTON, Fla. - Two Bradenton city police officers were asked to resign from the force recently, but Police Chief Mike Radzilowski is not saying why.
The departures come on the heels of one officer who was fired and another who resigned after being charged criminally.
In the most recent departures, police officers Richard Paradiso and Jerome Hawthorne resigned within two days of one another. They had worked for the department for about a year.
Radzilowski confirmed the officers “did get involved in an incident and we’re looking at it administratively,” but he declined to give details.
The police chief and Mayor Wayne Poston both do not believe the departures have shaken the department’s image. They said law enforcement agencies or other work forces with a large number of employees face personnel problems.
“The vast majority are doing an outstanding job,” Radzilowski said. “The citizens are certainly getting their money’s worth. Every agency has some personnel problems they have to deal with. The problem with police departments is we hold ourselves to higher standards because that’s what the community deserves.”
Hawthorne, when reached at home, declined to comment on the resignation.
“I don’t want to say anything about that,” he said.
Paradiso did not respond to a message left Friday with relatives.
Police Officer Prince W. Milton III resigned earlier this month after the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrested him on a charge of sexual battery. According to an MSO news release, Milton had consensual sex with a female inmate trustee while driving her to jail in October.
Milton has since been arrested on a additional charge of attempted sexual battery. He is free on $50,000 bond, court records and jail officials said.
Also in October, the department fired police Officer Randy Gray after he allegedly shoved a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office detective while trying to get into a bar without paying, according to a Bradenton police internal investigation report. When Gray later returned to the bar, he was arrested for trespassing. Gray entered a misdemeanor intervention program instead of facing the charge.
Poston called Gray “a good officer and a good guy.”
“We finally got this whole staff and now we’ve lost four or five guys,” Poston said. “But we have three or four we’re going to hire soon, so we’ll be back.”
Radzilowski said the department plans to hire two officers next week and two more from the police academy next month.
Radzilowski said recruits face background checks, polygraph and other tests before joining the force. But the department cannot learn everything about a job candidate until the person comes on board.
“If you’re not a person of good moral character, it takes awhile for us to find out,” he said. “It takes a year or two to really evaluate someone.”
The department is authorized to employ 120 sworn officers. It has about 115 currently, Radzilowski said.