This morning, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (R) told reporters that interim Chief Lee Bercaw—a 27-year-veteran of TPD—is her choice to lead the department going forward. Credit: Photo via cityoftampa/Twitter

Tampa Mayor Jane Castor is skipping her promised national search, and going local in the selection of the city’s next police chief.

This morning, Castor told reporters that interim Chief Lee Bercaw—a 27-year-veteran of TPD—is her choice to lead the department going forward.

Bercaw will have to go before city council for approval—as early as June 15, according to the mayor—but his appointment is not expected to be as contentious as the one for his predecessor, disgraced Police Chief Mary O’Connor, who was forced to resign after Creative Loafing Tampa Bay unearthed video showing her using her badge to get out of a traffic stop.

O’Connor was with her husband Keith O’Connor—who is a leader in the city’s Neighborhood Enhancement or code enforcement department—when they were pulled over last November by Pinellas Sheriff near their home in Oldsmar.

Castor nominated O’Connor for top cop despite public outcry over her role in discriminatory policing operations (“Biking While Black,” and TPD’s crime-free multi-housing program) and past felony charges of battery on a law enforcement officer. O’Connor’s appointment also flabbergasted locals who expected Castor to select then-interim chief and West Tampa Native Ruben “Butch” Delgado to lead the department (he’s since retired and works in the private sector).

In explaining her choice to skip a national search for a police chief, Castor said that Bercaw—who has a doctorate in criminal justice from St. Leo University, a master’s in criminal justice administration from the University of South Florida, and a bachelor’s in criminology—has navigated different issues in outstanding fashion.

“He has not only continued to hold the Tampa Police Department up to the standards that our community expects. He has grown and moved this department forward,” Castor added.

In the run up to appointing O’Connor, Castor and her administration could not provide details on the search.

“The only thing that’s going to change is taking that word and ‘interim’ off,” Bercaw told reporters this morning. He alluded to his many jobs in the department over nearly three decades (officer, supervisor, detective) and deflected credit for his appointment to the command staff behind him at TPD headquarters this morning.

This is a developing post.

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