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I must make a few comments. When I first moved to Marco in 1991, this place was fantastic. Collier County Deputies patrolled the island. Let me preface by saying that I support Law Enforcement. However since Don Hunter became Sheriff, he turned Collier into a major police State. What someone needs to do is research how much the Sheriff Dept grew under Hunter. If you think Marco PD is bad now, wait till we have 60 full time officers, a helicopter, a submarine, a space shuttle and a GPS locater shoved up all our rear ends. This use to be such a great place to live and now it is over the top with police and traffic signs. We never needed our own police dept on a 24 sq mile area ( some of it water / canals) but if we shall keep one, at least lets make it smaller. Bring in a few part time seasonal officers to help out during the peak season, like they have in other cities in the Summer (Cape Cop, Newport, Ocean City, etc). My home town has a year round population of 56k (Marco has 16,413 according to U.S. census 2010). My hometown has a police force half the size of Marco Is with a much higher crime rate. Heck, our City hall is big enought for a city of 100k residents. I see a big police presence but I don't need to see them on jet skis or golf carts cruising the beach or ridding Police Harley Davidsons around town or with any other toys that are needless. I still haven't been able to confirm this rumor( can anyone help)but I was told that Marco PD now have AR15 assault riffles in the trunks of police cars (what the heck for).
I still work for a living so when I see waste with my tax dollars (as many of you do) I get extremely upset. I have already seen many of my friends leave this area because of all the nonesense with this City. We need to take it back and not let these non resident city employees take over.
God Bless