WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Police Chief Paul Goward was tired of looking around his department and seeing blubber hanging over the belts of some of his officers. So he sent out a memo exhorting the “jelly bellies” to shape up.
In the end, the department lost 190 pounds – all of them belonging to Goward. He was forced out as chief because some of his officers took offense.
The Oct. 11 memo bruised feelings on the 80-member force, drew at least one anonymous letter of complaint from officers about the chief’s management style and made his department the butt of jokes about fat cops and doughnuts.
“If they got their feelings hurt to the extent of ‘Do something about it,’ then I did what I was intending to do,” said an unapologetic Goward, a trim 6-footer who was forced to resign his $92,000-a-year post last week.
Some of the chief’s defenders said his ouster was a big overreaction.
“He offered tremendously good advice, yet he was sacked,” wrote Thomas Roe Oldt, a columnist for The Ledger of Lakeland.
In his memo, titled “Are You a Jelly Belly,” the chief never singled anyone out, and apart from the title, didn’t call anyone names.
Instead, he provided a list of 10 reasons police officers should be in shape. He said overweight police poorly represent the profession, poop out when chasing suspects and might have to resort to “a higher level of force” if a criminal got the upper hand in a fight.
“Take a good look at yourself,” he wrote. “If you are unfit, do yourself and everyone else a favor. See a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago. We didn’t hire you unfit and we don’t want you working unfit. Don’t mean to offend, this is just straight talk. I owe it to you.”
Winter Haven police must pass physical examinations to be hired but are not regularly tested for fitness thereafter.
One of the anonymous complaint letters described the force as “upset to say the least” about the chief and called the “Jelly Belly” memo “the icing on the cake.”
“This letter shows the type of harassment and hostile work environment we have. The chief of police is constantly ‘bad talking’ us in every way possible and we have had enough of his arrogance,” the letter read.
Associated Press
Paul Goward was forced to resign as police chief in Winter Haven, Fla., after complaints about his campaign to get officers to lose weight.
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