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Internet Research
Armando Martinez
(Note: Articles Appear in Reverse Chronological Order)
Tab 8
"(Martinez) was received with a little resentment from the criminal element in the community,
but the average Joe Q. Citizen objectively took a look at him and his platform" and appreciated
the goals he was reaching for, Pinto said.
The initial arrests that caused some minor controversy may not have been completely
"necessary," Pinto said. "But it amounted to a lot of good things."
Delories Hall, a resident in the then crime-stricken south side of Bunnell and once a strong critic
of the Police Department, said "(Martinez) had to come in and let people know there was law
here now."
Martinez and Murray, his lead investigator, made "major changes" in the way investigations are
handled. Organized files, proper officer training, attention to details, are now the norm, both said.
"Now cases that can be solved are worked until there's no more work that can be done," Murray
said, and people are going to jail who wouldn't have under the old policies. In the past, Murray
said cases that couldn't be solved in an eight-hour shift were dropped and never touched again,
with the exception of homicides, which are investigated by the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement.
But Martinez and his officers are putting too much focus on drugs and not enough effort into
other crimes, resident Lasongia McKay said.
"Don't get me wrong," McKay said in a telephone interview. "I don't condone drugs, but crime is
crime and it all should be dealt with equally."
McKay also said there are times when officers' fight against drugs is inconveniencing good, lawabiding
people. She knows of several people who would rather not meet their friends
in Bunnell for fear they'll be stopped by police because they are driving in a known drug area,
and officers sometimes jump to the initial conclusion that they must be in the area to purchase
drugs.
McKay also complains officers are ignoring other crimes in the city such as the loud music that
thumps in the wee hours of the mornings and the sale of bootleg products such as CDs and sodas
from people's homes. And they're missing the little things like teenagers in the parks fighting and
engaging in "gunplay," McKay said.
"I don't feel like my kids are protected," McKay said. For her to feel her children are safe,
Bunnell cops need to "kick everything - not just drugs."
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