mark sohn - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T14:23:04Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/mark+sohnBoynton Beach: City, PBSO end talks on mergerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-city-pbso-end-talks-on-merger2022-08-31T16:01:12.000Z2022-08-31T16:01:12.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><strong>Related stories: <a href="https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-interim-public-safety-chiefs-win-permanent-status">Interim public safety chiefs win permanent status </a>|<a href="https://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-commission-selects-police-captain-to-be-city-manage=edit" target="_blank">Commission selects police captain to be city manager</a></strong></p>
<p><strong>By Tao Woolfe</strong></p>
<p>The romance between Boynton Beach and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is officially over. Both sides announced separately last month that negations to allow PBSO to take over the city’s police services had ceased. <br /> Boynton Beach Mayor Ty Penserga told a delighted crowd at an Aug. 16 City Commission meeting that the merger was “financially infeasible” due to unspecified pension fund liabilities.<br /> “Given the financial reality, it is not in the best interest for the city to move forward at this time,” Penserga said.<br /> The previous day, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw had announced the breakdown in merger talks. <br /> In his statement, Bradshaw made it clear that Boynton Beach had approached the PBSO about a possible merger — not the other way around.<br /> “At no time did we ask for or initiate the discussions,” the sheriff said.<br /> Nevertheless, the sheriff had presented a $42.5 million proposal in July to provide Boynton Beach with “greatly enhanced security and depth of law enforcement,” if the commission hired PBSO.<br /> Although the Boynton Beach Police Department’s proposed budget for next year is a relatively modest $38.5 million, newly named Police Chief Joseph DeGiulio and interim City Manager Jim Stables said the City Commission would not regret its decision.<br /> The future city Police Department will be reorganized, adequately staffed and willing to work more closely with the community, DeGiulio and Stables said. <br /> The commissioners promised to support the department and its goals.<br /> “The people have spoken. Sorry it took so long,” said Commissioner Woodrow Hay, who had been opposed to a PBSO merger all along. “I’m happy we are headed in the right direction. Let’s not waste more time and money. … Let’s work together with our Police Department and our citizens.”<br /> Residents at the meeting applauded the commission for opting to stay with the city police, but some questioned the rationale.<br /> “You didn’t make the motion because it’s the right thing to do, but because it’s financially infeasible,” the Rev. Richard Dames, pastor of the Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church, said of the decision to end the talks.<br /> Community activist Bryce Graham said negotiations with the sheriff’s office should be called off permanently. “This should not come up again,” Graham said. “This should be a cease and desist.”<br /> He added that going forward, the City Commission should heed the community’s “cries for transparency and accountability” from the Police Department and city officials.<br /> The possibility of bringing PBSO in to replace the Boynton Beach Police Department was raised in April following months of tumult and anger — especially from the Black community — after 13-year-old Stanley Davis III was killed during a Dec. 26, 2021, high-speed police chase. The teen was riding a dirt bike.<br /> Residents had expressed frustration that an internal investigation was taking so long. Nevertheless, Black and white residents had repeatedly said at commission meetings that they did not want PBSO to replace the city’s police. <br /> Instead, residents said, the local force should be winnowed of bad officers and more enlightened policies enacted.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Officer fired; union protests</span><br /> Just days after the commission meeting, the Boynton Beach Police Department announced that its internal investigation into the circumstances of Davis’s death had come to an end. <br /> As a result, Mark Sohn, the officer involved in the deadly chase, was fired.<br /> On Aug. 19, the same day the termination was announced, Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association attorney Lawrence K. Fagan sent a letter to DeGiulio to initiate the union grievance process with the city, alleging that Sohn had been disciplined through termination “without just cause.”<br /> The union is seeking Sohn’s reinstatement as a police officer “along with back pay, wages, pension contributions and all associated emoluments,” according to the grievance document.<br /> According to the findings of the months-long internal affairs investigation, Sohn violated the department’s strict vehicular pursuit policies on more than one occasion.<br /> “By repeatedly violating this policy, Officer Sohn unnecessarily placed the safety of the public and officers at risk,” DeGiulio wrote in the report dated June 29.<br /> Sohn also violated the officers’ code of ethics and engaged in conduct unbecoming a police officer, according to the report.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;">Reorganization planned</span><br /> Stables and DeGiulio told the commissioners and the residents that community policing would be a top priority going forward.<br /> “We have been thinking through reorganization, and looking at efficiencies,” Stables said. As for staffing, “we don’t have the budget this year, but we will look at expansion in the future.”<br /> DeGiulio said the department would specifically like to add to its road patrol, investigations and communications personnel.<br /> Commissioner Thomas Turkin said city officials should ensure, during upcoming budget hearings, that the Police Department has the money it needs to meet its new goals.<br /> “We need to put our money where our mouth is and invest in the Police Department,” he said. “I hope this support of the Boynton Beach Police Department does not disappear overnight.”<br /> For his part, the sheriff said there are no hard feelings about the city’s decision.<br /> “The Sheriff’s Office wishes the city all the best, and will assist them in any way if asked to do so,” Bradshaw said.</p></div>Boynton Beach: Police Department gets another interim chiefhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boynton-beach-police-department-gets-another-interim-chief2022-06-01T14:41:08.000Z2022-06-01T14:41:08.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><strong>By Tao Woolfe</strong></p>
<p>Staff changes continued their whirlwind pace in Boynton Beach as interim Police Chief Vanessa Snow resigned from the department in May and was replaced as interim chief by Assistant Chief Joseph DeGiulio.<br /> A news release from the city announcing Snow’s departure said the city was “grateful for interim Chief Snow’s commitment and service throughout the years, and we wish her much success in her future endeavors.”<br /> No reason was given by the city for Snow’s resignation, but she and former Police Chief Michael Gregory — who left the city in April — had served during the turmoil following the death of 13-year-old Stanley Davis III last December.<br /> The boy crashed his dirt bike into a median on Federal Highway on Dec. 26 while being pursued by Boynton Beach Police Officer Mark Sohn in his patrol car.<br /> Representatives of the Black community continue to ask the city to fire Sohn. He is the subject of an internal Police Department probe into Davis’ death.<br />Sohn was cleared of all charges in late March by a Florida Highway Patrol investigation. FHP concluded Davis was unlawfully fleeing an attempted traffic stop and going 85 mph in a 35-mph zone.<br /> Fallout from the incident — as well frustration over the city’s role in the stalled Town Square downtown development — led the commission to fire longtime City Manager Lori LaVerriere in late April.<br /><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10530532259,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10530532259,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" width="100" alt="10530532259?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a>DeGiulio has served the Boynton Beach Police Depart-ment in various capacities since joining the force as a police officer in 2001. Since then he has served 10 years as a command officer, rising through the ranks as a sergeant, lieutenant, captain and assistant chief.<br /> He recently applied for the interim city manager’s position, but the commission appointed Fire Chief James Stables to that post on April 25.<br /> In his application letter to the commission for the interim city manager’s job, DeGiulio said he could help build rapport between the Police Department and the community.<br /> “Throughout my years of service my goal has always been to improve relationships with the community and the Police Department with effective leadership and innovation,” DeGiulio wrote.<br /> Those skills will be put to the test as the city looks at whether a merger with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office would benefit the city. Many residents have said they would rather reform the city’s Police Department than replace it with the PBSO.<br /> “I look forward to working closely with interim Chief DeGiulio, who will serve as a key member of the city’s executive team and assure the community a seamless transition of leadership in the Police Department,” Stables said in a prepared statement.<br /> DeGiulio received his master’s degree in leadership from Palm Beach Atlantic University, and a bachelor of science degree in police studies from John Jay College in New York.<br /> He served as a police officer in New York from 1998 to 2001.<br /> The city will also be losing popular City Clerk Crystal Gibson, who is leaving to care full-time for her family.<br /> Asked if she’s looking forward to a less stressful job, Gibson laughed.<br /> “There’s no such thing as a stress-free job,” she said. “There are just different kinds of stresses.” </p></div>