Who's In The Running For Pasco's Next Sheriff?

The name of the next Pasco County Sherrif might not be known, but one thing is certain: Several people want this job.

Only a week has passed since Bob White announced his resignation on March 16, and the buzz is getting louder about who will succeed him. As of March 22, only two hopefuls had applied but competition is expected to grow. 

A recently promoted member of White's command staff is leaning toward applying for the position. And a newcomer moving to Pasco with 33 years in law enforcement is filling out his application.

Gov. Rick Scott will appoint someone to the position of Pasco’s top cop by the time White officially retires on April 30.

Maj. Chris Nocco, who has two years of service in Pasco, has not applied for the job, but he is considered the front runner by those in law enforcement circles. White said he will not publicly endorse any one member of his command staff, saying all are qualified to lead the agency.

Nocco, who, with two years of experience in Pasco, is relatively new to the agency,  says he will decide whether to apply before the weekend. He needs to finish deliberating with his family, the rest of the command staff and other trusted advisers.

“I’m probably leaning that way,” he said Tuesday of applying.

When the sheriff recently reorganized the agency after his undersheriff, Col. Al Neinhuis, was appointed by then-Gov. Charlie Crist to be Hernando County's sheriff, Nocco, 35, was promoted from captain and charged to lead the agency’s Joint Operations Bureau. In the newly created bureau, he oversees the Criminal Investigations Division and the Agency Support Division.

White brought Nocco into the agency in 2009 as captain of administration, luring him away from the Florida Highway Patrol in Tallahasee, where he served as chief of staff. Prior to that, he served as chief of staff for Marco Rubio when he was speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. His law enforcement career began in his hometown of Philadelphia, eventually ending up in Florida as a sheriff’s deputy in Broward County.

“The one thing that I can bring to the table is that I worked at many places and have seen different practices, and what we can instill here is the best practices. We can build a world-class agency,” he said. “Sheriff White has laid the foundation, there’s no doubt about that, and we can build upon that.”

Another member of White’s command staff has beaten Nocco to the governor’s office, if only on paper. Maj. Brian Head, the detention bureau commander, submitted his application two days after White’s announcement.

Head, 46, started at the sheriff’s office as captain and division commander of what was then the county’s two-jail system shortly after White took office in January 2001. He was recruited by White from the Florida Department of Corrections, where he worked for 14 years, leaving as a senior inspector. Head says he wants the job because he thinks he will be an effective leader, following in White’s footsteps.

Head said the job of sheriff requires "a solid educational background coupled with sound operational experience," Head, a Republican, wrote in an email response to questions about his application. More than 24 years of public service and a master's degree in public administration have prepared him for the job, he wrote.

“Second, I think the sheriff should be a great manager," he wrote. "No one person has all the answers. It is incumbent on whomever the governor appoints to build on the participatory leadership of the commanders on the ground. You should never underestimate the value of the intelligence gained from the men and women in the field.”

Head said even if he is chosen to replace his boss, he knows it is ultimately the citizens of Pasco to whom he will have to answer.

“I respect Governor Scott's decision and stand ready to serve if appointed; with the understanding that it will ultimately be the citizens decision in 2012,” he wrote.

Roger Fortney, who had already announced his candidacy for sheriff in the 2012 election, has also applied. Fortney, 58, is a retired Pasco deputy who served under three sheriffs, including White, during his tenure at the agency. He is dual-certified in law enforcement and corrections/detention and held positions from patrol deputy to property crimes detective.

Fortney, a Republican, came out of retirement briefly, working for the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office as a detention deputy for five months before resigning in late January when he decided to run for Pasco sheriff. His long history working at the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, he said, makes him a prime candidate.

“I worked for the agency for 23 years so I’m not a newcomer,” Fortney said Tuesday. “Working for the citizens for that long, I think has given me an edge on what the citizens of Pasco want and need.”

Democrat Kim Bogart, also 58, who was part of White’s predecessor’s command staff, is considering running for White's job in the 2012 general election, but he hasn’t officially filed to run for sheriff and has not filed an application with the governor to fill the position in the interim.

In the last general election, Bogart gave White a run for his money, losing by just 4,002 votes. For 16 years, Bogart worked  for the Pasco Sheriff’s Office, rising to the ranks of captain and major. Bogart is the executive director of the Florida Corrections Accreditation Commission and has also done consulting for law enforcement and corrections agencies to prepare them for accreditation.

Another retired law enforcement officers is also seeking the job. Mike “XX” Foxx, or Double X as he said he’s known, has filed to run and says he is in the process of completing the application for the appointment. After 33 years as a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy, he retired in 2002 but decided at 65 it’s time to get back into the game.

“I don’t feel old, so that’s why I’m coming out of retirement,” he said Tuesday.

Foxx spent much of his career at the sheriff’s office as a training office and says he even trained Pasco deputies before White’s administration. Prior to that, he worked for the Tampa Police Department for nine years and had other law enforcement jobs.

The Florida native said he “fell in love” with the Pasco Sheriff’s office in the 1980s and wanted to lead it since then, but it wasn’t until friends recently asked him to run that he decided to go for it. He is now establishing himself as a Pasco resident by moving out of Polk and renting an apartment locally. He says it is his goal to improve the lives of Pasco residents by providing them with top quality law enforcement and a fiscally sound agency

“I recognized there was a need for a leader that was experienced and competent, was honest and had moral integrity and I believe that I fit the bill,” he said.

He said he wants to work closely with his men and women on the street, the county commission and residents to create a well-run, proactive agency that works within the current budgetary constraints.

“I’m a cop’s cop. That’s what I am,” he said.

In the coming weeks, more applicants are expected to surface. Meanwhile, White, 60, prepares to leave midway through his third term so he can spend more time with his 18-month-old granddaughter, he says. He has acknowledged that some won’t believe his reasons. And that has certainly been the case. Some have speculated that his resignation is politically motivated, saying he will be appointed to another position by the governor.

White has served as part of the governor’s transition team and has made several recent trips to Tallahassee including for the State of the State address. The sheriff has said nothing is in the works and he doesn’t plan to leave Pasco. Still, he said, he wouldn’t rule out helping the governor in some way in the future.  The future, however, has to be at least six months after his retirement. Under state law, once a state worker retires from one position, they can’t work in another one for six months, not even in appointed positions.