There are only 30 minutes left on Plant City Police Department Officer Clemente “Clem” Fiol’s eight-hour shift.
But, that’s when he gets his first call of the day.
Call type: S49.
It is an alarm call detecting a living room glass window break at a house on North Ferrell Street.
For the past seven hours, Fiol, Plant City’s newest downtown cop, had casually strolled up and down the quaint streets. As part of the new assistant city manager’s safety plan, Fiol acts as a guardian to the bustling district, patrolling the streets from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., five days a week.
Fiol’s job is to provide a presence in the downtown district — a sense of safety. For the most part, that means chatting with shopkeepers and waving to residents.
But when a call comes over the radio, Fiol’s police training kicks in. Within seconds of that crackly call, Fiol is back in his police cruiser, responding into his walkie-talkie with a quick, deliberate cadence of police jargon.
On the way to the incident location, Fiol comes across another call. A man sitting next to Fiol at a stoplight on Baker Street rolls down his window.
“We’re chasing a guy who got in a fight with my daughter,” the man yells to Fiol.
Fiol reassures him another officer was on the way to assist.
“It can be quiet all day long and then, all of a sudden, someone turns on a switch,” Fiol says.
DUTY CALLS
Fiol parks several houses down from the incident address. With stealthy steps, he approaches the house to investigate the window break. After circling around, he finds no signs of forced entry. But, there was a dog inside.
Sometimes, alarm systems detect a break-in if an animal knocks something over.
Fiol returns to his cruiser. False alarm.
It is now past the end of his shift. But that doesn’t mean Fiol’s day is over.
Another call crackles over the radio.
Call type: S32ATT.
It is an attempted suicide. At a local middle school.
This is where Fiol’s true passion kicks in. Before taking his position with the Plant City Police Department, Fiol served for 18 years with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. For many of those years, he was a school resource officer.
“I have a soft spot for kids,” says Fiol, who has four boys of his own.
Rushing to the middle school, Fiol discovers another officer has responded. But, Fiol is compelled to help.
The officers take the student into a room for counseling. The attempt manifested itself as scratches on the student’s arm.
Was it a call for help?
Perhaps.
By the end of the counseling session, Fiol has the student smiling.
“You never know with these kids,” Fiol says. “At the end of the day, some don’t want to go home.”
ON PATROL
Fiol started his first day as Plant City’s downtown cop March 18. In his element, Fiol acts as a liaison between the department and the community. It’s only been a month, but already, shopkeepers smile when he arrives. They know his name. He knows about their lives.
“How’s Hannah?” Fiol asks about All A Bloom florist Darcy Stottlemyer’s granddaughter.
“I’ll stop in and make sure the girls are doing OK,” Fiol tells Neumeister’s Candy Shoppe owner, Jill Nickolson, about her daughter, who is scheduled to work the next day.
“Is Lynn upstairs?” Fiol asks Inspire! Quilting and Sewing employees about the owner.
He sees himself to her office.
“I call him ‘Clem the Quilting Cop,’” Lynn Harberl says.
Decked out in a bulletproof vest and utility belt full of deadly weapons, the last thing anyone would expect is for Fiol to quilt. But he and his wife, Karen, have picked it up as a hobby.
Although Fiol’s beat covers the downtown district, he also patrols three public-housing projects and surrounding neighborhoods. He works with Patricia Dexter at the Housing Authority to maintain the safety of these neighborhoods.
A current problem is “The Lot,” a small strip of shops that includes a barber shop, beauty supply store and convenience market on the corner of Alabama and Maryland streets. On the weekends, youth from around the area come to “The Lot” to hang out. They park their cars in public-housing yards across the street. Sometimes, it gets loud and rowdy.
Fiol has offered to give up the evening of Mother’s Day to patrol “The Lot.”
“Pat is very passionate about these people,” Fiol says. “She wants what’s best. If I can do something like alter my schedule, then that’s what it’s all about.”
FILLING THE SHOES
When Fiol was in middle school, his parents were going through a divorce. Like most children, he was having a hard time dealing with it.
Fiol joined the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post. It was like Boy Scouts, except instead of getting camping and community-services badges, Explorers train in law-enforcement operations, such as hostage negotiations, crime scenes and bomb-threat responses.
During that time, he was learning from a school resource officer, Officer Jim Depuy.
“He just went above and beyond, knowing that my parents were getting a divorce,” Fiol says. “He kind of inspired me.”
During high school, Fiol completed a law-enforcement program. He then worked in the prison system. After about six years, he was hired by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Fiol then came to the Plant City Police Department after a five-year retirement stint in Wisconsin.
“I am a public servant,” Fiol says. “There are good days, and there are bad days. The good days are when you’re able to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Contact Amber Jurgensen at ajurgensen@plantcityobserver.com.