Tampa's Interim Police Chief Lee Bercaw Gets Permanent Title

TAMPA, FL — During a news conference Friday morning, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor announced that she was making Lee Bercaw's interim position as Tampa police chief permanent.

Bercaw has served as interim police chief since Dec. 5 when Castor asked former Police Chief Mary O'Connor to resign after an incident in November in which O'Connor asked a Pinellas County sheriff's deputy to ignore the fact that she and her husband had been pulled over driving a golf cart without a tag.

In body-worn camera video, O'Connor displayed her badge to the deputy and said, "I'm hoping you will let us go tonight."

O'Connor was appointed police chief in January 2021 over the objections of a number of residents due to her arrest as a 24-year-old rookie officer with the Tampa Police Department.

O'Connor was arrested in 1995 by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies during a DUI traffic stop. She was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, obstruction and disorderly intoxication after she struck a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy and kicked the windows of a patrol car.

She served as police chief for less than a year.

Castor promptly appointed Assistant Police Chief Lee Bercaw to serve as acting chief while the city conducted a national search to replace O'Connor.

Bercaw, a 25-year veteran of the Tampa Police Department, who served as assistant chief under former Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan, was widely respected by both fellow officers and the community.

In the five months he has served as acting police chief, the community's regard for Bercaw has grown due to his transparency involving police wrongdoings, his initiatives to reduce gun violence in the city and his public outreach campaigns.

Castor, who once held the title of Tampa police chief, said she saw no reason to launch a lengthy and potentially costly national search for O'Connor's replacement when the ideal candidate was already doing the job.

Related:

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Bercaw joined the Tampa Police Department in 1997. In addition to walking a beat and patrolling in all three of the city's patrol districts, Bercaw managed security for some of Tampa's largest events including the 2012 Republican National Convention and the 2021 Super Bowl along with the yearly Gasparilla Pirate Fest, one of the largest parades in the country.

In February, the Major Cities Chiefs Association announced that Tampa has the second-lowest violent crime rate per capita among all cities surveyed that have similar populations, including Cincinnati, Ohio; Cleveland, Ohio; St. Louis, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; New Orleans, Louisiana; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Orlando; and Miami.

"We have taken a holistic approach to creating a safe and secure environment for our residents, visitors and businesses," he said. "The survey only serves as further motivation for our officers to keep pushing for new ways to ensure that our communities remain safe and crime free."

"This data confirms what we already know, Tampa is one of the safest large cities in the United States where you can land a well-paying job at one of many growing businesses and also raise your family in a safe community," said Castor. "I am thankful for the dedicated law enforcement officers working tirelessly every day to continue to ensure our safety."

Bercaw, who holds a doctorate in criminal justice from Saint Leo University, attributes the decrease in violent crime to the department's focus on crime prevention programs, community-oriented policing and the partnerships the police department has formed with community organizations, the Rise Up for Peace organization and Stop the Gun Violence Tampa Bay.

"While this may be the beginning of a new chapter, we are not starting over by any means. It's time to keep the momentum going," he said.

The announcement of Bercaw's appointment as police chief was attended by members of the Tampa City Council, demonstrating a vow for increased communication between the mayor and the council, which expressed disappointment that Castor hadn't informed council members before she appointed O'Connor police chief in January 2021.

Following April's Tampa mayor and council elections, council member Bill Carlson, one of the mayor's biggest critics, said he reached out to Castor the day after his re-election to congratulate her and she suggested they meet for coffee.

"I hope that everybody watching in the building, the community and the city can hit the reset button today," Carlson said at a council meeting following the election in which he and four other council members were re-elected.

"We have a new city council. And I think we're all excited about a new day," he said. "There were a lot of difficult times in the campaign and some difficult times over the past four years but, as the community said, we have to be focused on the community, not the politics, and we can't hold grudges going forward."

Carlson said his coffee with Castor turned into a two-hour meeting.

"We had a very productive meeting and we both committed to working together going forward," he said. "We talked about how we can get things done in the community and move the community's agenda forward more quickly, so I hope everybody watching will put aside all the old political arguments and let's just figure out how to work together. We've got four years to make a difference in this community. I hope we can get things done."