Thursday, March 29, 2012
Now's your chance to get your questions answered.
Patch freelancer Daylina Miller is getting a chance to witness a day in the life of an officer of the New Port Richey Police Department. Daylina will be joining officer Joe Ioppolo on patrol for the day shift Friday, March 30. She has lots of questions about Ioppolo, who joined the force in May 2011, and his job as a police officer in the city. Do you also have questions about the job? Friday is your opportunity to get them answered. Pose your questions in the comments on this article or send them to Alex.Tiegen@patch.com. Daylina will be asking the questions you submit during her day with Ioppolo, which starts at 6 a.m. We are also interested in seeing if our readers are interested in getting their questions answered in real-time. Let us…
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Senator Mike Fasano (R) New Port Richey, has draft legislation for the 2012 legislative session after the Casey Anthony verdict came down
Since people locally and throughout the country followed the Casey Anthony trial, I wanted to know what aspect of the case could have been addressed differently by the law and whether there were any gaps that the legislature could address. I spoke with Sen. Mike Fasano's office about the verdict and a new law he is proposing. “Over and over, from the beginning of this, Sen. Fasano kept asking about the 31 days: why is it that this child was missing for 31 days and no one reported it?” said Greg Giordano, Fasano's chief legislative aide. "As we know now, there is no law in Florida that requires that missing children be reported to law enforcement within a certain time-frame. If there had been such a law on the books this case may have …
Senator Mike Fasano (R) New Port Richey, has draft legislation for the 2012 legislative session after the Casey Anthony verdict came down
Since people locally and throughout the country followed the Casey Anthony trial, I wanted to know what aspect of the case could have been addressed differently by the law and whether there were any gaps that the legislature could address. I spoke with Sen. Mike Fasano's office about the verdict and a new law he is proposing. “Over and over, from the beginning of this, Sen. Fasano kept asking about the 31 days: why is it that this child was missing for 31 days and no one reported it?” said Greg Giordano, Fasano's chief legislative aide. "As we know now, there is no law in Florida that requires that missing children be reported to law enforcement within a certain time-frame. If there had been such a law on the books this case may have …
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Is dillution the solution? Proposed name changes make no mention of sexual or domestic violence.
The Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force of Pasco County tentatively voted in late May to drop "domestic and sexual violence" from its common-use name and expand its services in East Pasco. While the new name is "Family and Community Enhancement Task Force of East Pasco," the goup is still operating as the only countywide domestic and sexual violence task force. In addition, West Pasco's Domestic Violence Task force is not included in these changes at all and is a separate operation. Why change the name? It's a different name for “marketing purposes” while the grant money still rolls in under the official legal name, according to the explanation provided by Sunrise of Pasco. That means for bylaws and grants, it's legal name remains as "…
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Florida Legislature unanimously passes Walk in Their Shoes Act
“Excellent news, HB 251 passed the House of Representatives this morning with unanimous support, 116-0.” This was the wonderful update I got from Carissa Caricato, Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. House Bill 251 is the “Walk in Their Shoes Act," which strengthens prosecutors' and law enforcement officers' ability to combat sexual violence and better protects the rights of victims of crimes. Lauren Book is a survivor of childhood sexual abuse who has worked to help heal other survivors. She also started a non-profit, Lauren's Kids, to help raise awareness of prevention of child sexual abuse, change the laws, and more. Book is a published author and educator as well. Through Lauren's kids, she holds an annual walk that unites survivors and …
Saturday, April 9, 2011
No means no! That means stop rape! Welcome to Sexual Assault Awareness Month throughout the USA. Join Pasco County survivors and advocates to help stop sexual violence at Take Back the Night and let our voices be heard!
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. It's time to speak out against rape and other forms of forced sex. To give you some perspective on the problem of sexual assault, here are just a few startling facts provided by Terri O’Brien, executive director of Sunrise of Pasco County and co-chairperson of the Pasco Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force: "No!" means "No!" No consent means it is rape! If you are incapacitated and cannot consent, it is rape. We need to pull together as a community and stop this. Here's what's horrifying: If we start counting the minutes that pass while reading this article, how many will have been sexually assaulted by the time you get to the end? How many mothers, sisters, daughters, cousins, nieces, …
Monday, March 28, 2011
Sexual and Domestic Violence Task Force - an introduction to those fighting for change and saving lives with Task Force Co-Chair Terri O'Brien
“Because domestic and sexual assault are a real problem in our community.” That's what Terri O’Brien told me when I asked her why we need a Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force in West Pasco County. O'Brien serves as co-chair of not one but two task forces with Marty Driscoll, who works as a therapist for convicted sexual offenders and predators in Pasco. One Task Force serves West Pasco. The other serves East Pasco. With these combined forces and collaboration with police, task force members are bound to produce results. And it's about time. Last year alone, police responded to more than 8,000 calls related to domestic and/or sexual violence. The two go hand in hand more often than not. The task force only included domestic …
Saturday, March 12, 2011
To end abuse, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Pasco Sheriff Office have staggering information about the prevalance of domestic violence in Florida and Pasco County
I recently wrote an e-mail to Lynn Needs, director of the Salvation Army's West Pasco Domestic Violence program, asking how serious a problem domestic violence is in our county. The answer was alarming. “Homicides related to domestic violence doubled from three to six” in Pasco County in 2009, she wrote back, citing numbers from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. In Florida, domestic violence results in one out of every five murders, according to information from Needs. Get help with safety planning to leave abusive situations so you don't become a statistic. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement Uniform Crime Report for 2009 had more grim news, as reported by the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence: The state had a 15.6 …
lynze
12:03 pm on Wednesday, July 20, 2011
I think that with or without this law that anyone that does not report a child missing for 31 days is ALREADY negligent of child abuse. Just being a mom and being responsible for your child requires you to report that child missing without a hand written law. Just the same as if you are aware of harm being done to your child you are required to report it. The blanket of child abuse cant possibly … more ›