56: A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Podcast cover art

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Podcast

56: A Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Podcast

Written by: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office
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Welcome to 56: A Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Podcast. Three curious and well-informed civilians – Ricky, Laura, and Ashley – will find the most interesting people and fascinating stories from all around the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and bring you stories you’ll never forget.

Located in vibrant Pinellas County on the west coast of Florida, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office is the 15th largest sheriff’s office in the U.S. With close to one million residents, Pinellas is the most densely populated county in Florida, but with its award-wining beaches attract millions of tourists each year. Led by Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, the PCSO is the primary law enforcement provider for more than 40 percent of the county population, is responsible for securing county court facilities, operating the Pinellas County Jail, and several unique countywide responsibilities.

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Pinellas County Sheriff's Office 2024
Political Science Politics & Government True Crime
Episodes
  • #28 "Luck Isn't A Tactic, But It's A Thing" - Corporal Jim Lancia
    Jan 13 2026

    Corporal Jim Lancia is (to the best of our knowledge) the only 56 guest to have been ambushed with a Tommy gun. He has so many tales of adventure and danger that he said getting stabbed under his vest during a domestic wasn’t even a big deal compared to all the times he’s been shot at. After years as a law enforcement officer in Pennsylvania, plus a stint training K-9s for Navy SEALs, he came to the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. (He passed up on an offer from NASA SWAT, which means working at our agency is cooler than… er, fighting aliens? Or is that Space Force? We’re really not sure.) While here, he’s worked on the beaches and in the Marine Unit for a welcome change from snow and slush in the concrete jungle. Right now he’s in the Training Division, keeping PCSO on the forefront of the most innovative technology, including our groundbreaking use of Virtual Reality. Hear about how he was first on scene at a mass shooting, how he put his life on the line for $5.25 an hour, and why he loved working with the beautiful chaos that is a Belgian Malinois. He says he’s been shot at so many times that he shouldn’t be here talking to us now, but his career shows that in police work, luck’s not a tactic, but it’s a very real thing.

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    2 hrs and 1 min
  • #27 "Stem to Stern" - Fleet Manager Michael Vecchione
    Nov 4 2025

    Deputies can’t walk to calls – gone are the days of the beat cop on foot patrol – so the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office depends on Michael Vecchione, manager of the Fleet Services Division. His career took him from BMWs to firetrucks to PCSO’s Tahoes, armored vehicles, the command bus, and more. On this episode of 56, find out how you take a basic Tahoe and upfit it to a state-of-the-art police vehicle with lights, sirens, a push bar, and an interior that’s somewhere between an office and an arsenal. There’s science behind all those flashing lights too, and innovations have fine tuned them to keep deputies safer on the road. From the travails of finding parts for a military vehicle that’s still top secret, to how emergency vehicles handle hurricanes, we talk with the guy who literally keeps the sheriff’s office running.

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    1 hr and 38 mins
  • #26 "Textbooks Aren't Scratch And Sniff" - Forensic Science Supervisor Lisa Murphy
    Sep 16 2025

    Some forensic scientists train for years in the classroom, only to discover on their first real crime scene that they don’t have the stomach for the job. Not so for Forensic Science Supervisor Lisa Murphy. When she pulled up to her first dead body – a shotgun suicide – and said, “Wow, there’s a piece of skull!” she realized this was the perfect job for her. Since then she’s worked some of the grisliest crime scenes, labored for hours in houses full of decomp and no air conditioning, and never thrown up… although she’ll tell you about the times when she came close. Now she’s a blood pattern recognition expert who can reconstruct a homicide based on the blood evidence on the walls and floors. On this episode of 56, hear about the most disgusting, dangerous, and heart-wrenching cases she’s worked, and find out why she was the 2024 Forensic Science Specialist of the year.

    Email us your questions and suggestions at lets56@pcsonet.com

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    2 hrs and 3 mins
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