Interim Tampa Police Chief Ruben ‘Butch’ Delgado (L) and Mayor Jane Castor. Credit: Photo by City of Tampa/Facebook

Last July, after former Tampa Police Department (TPD) Chief Brian Dugan announced his retirement, Mayor Jane Castor said a national search would take place to help find candidates for his replacement.

Turns out that search would be more private than public.

On Dec. 1, nearly three months after Dugan’s last day and five months after he announced his retirement, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay submitted a public records request to the city, asking for documents and other information related to the search.

After three weeks and several follow ups across a handful of city departments, there still aren’t any records. Today, City of Tampa Communications Director Adam Smith told CL that Mayor Castor will be relying on her deep connections to law enforcement to aid in the search.

“While she said there would be a national search, I don’t believe it was intended to be a public solicitation for the position,” Smith told CL. “Her connections to law enforcement allow her to look around the country without opening up the floodgates.”

Smith told CL he does not know if Castor has called anyone about the job.

He also doesn’t know if there is documentation, but said that anything related to the search, if available, should be included within CL’s public records request. Meanwhile, Interim Police Chief Delgado—who officially stepped into the role in September when Dugan officially retired on Sept. 10—has been supported by Castor.

Because the city has not provided any public records, taxpayers don’t know if Castor’s talked to anyone at all about being Tampa’s next police chief, or prefers to promote Delgado internally.

Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a Washington D.C. based consultant group, told CL that the hiring process for police chief candidates is different for every city, adding that, “Some police departments look at their internal resources, some expand to a national search.”

Wexler’s firm was hired by former Mayor Bob Buckhorn during his public national search for a new police chief in 2017. After looking at 60 candidates and narrowing them down to a handful, Buckhorn ultimately decided to promote Dugan from within, citing his efforts during Hurricane Irma and the search for the Seminole Heights serial killer, which ultimately ended when a McDonald’s worker turned him in.

Wexler confirmed that his firm has not been hired by Castor for the current search, and added echoed Smith’s sentiment about how Castor’s deep history in law enforcement might help her choose a qualified candidate. Castor first joined TPD in 1984, advancing to assistant chief in 2005 before serving as chief from 2009-2015.

When told there were still no public records related to Castor’s national search, Wexler said, “Sometimes a city will prolong the search and see how things evolve in the police department.”

Critics of TPD’s practices, especially during the George Floyd uprising last year, said that outside leadership is needed, because Delgado is complicit in past abuses TPD waged on its citizens. Rev. Russell Meyer of Black Lives Matter Tampa told the Times that leadership from outside the current power structure at TPD is needed; he said TPD is tightly controlled by Mayor Castor.

While Butch has never been the subject of an internal affairs investigation, Meyer said that the current command structure of TPD, “has Mayor Castor’s handprint on it because she was police chief when it was created.”

Less than two weeks into his role as interim police chief, Delgado defended TPD’s controversial crime free multi-housing program alongside Castor. In December, after the Castor administration and TPD tried to spin the story in their favor, TPD changed the program. Still, Delgado wouldn’t admit it was changed, even though key components of the “crime-free” program were removed.

Delgado, a native Tampeño who went to Jefferson High School, joined the department in 1998. Castor, the police chief at the time, promoted him to captain in 2012. Over the next few years he climbed up the ranks and was made an Assistant Chief in 2020. In October, Delgado told the Tampa Bay Times that he does indeed want the job of chief—a position that paid Dugan $176,550 a year. State Attorney Andrew Warren, who represents the 13th District, also spoke highly of Delgado, calling him a “credible messenger” and “open minded.”
So as we head into the holidays, the lack of information from the city leaves serious questions about Castor’s search for the Tampa’s next police chief unanswered.

Has the search even started? Who has Castor talked to? Did the city already choose their guy in September and tell the press and public one thing while planning to do another?

While we wait for answers, Delgado continues to handle the role of interim police chief. On Dec. 28, the public can find him hosting a community forum on gun violence, his next event in a very public tryout to be Tampa’s next top cop.

Meanwhile, real details about whether the national search is ongoing, or if it has begun at all, are few and far between.

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