TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The list of candidates for the next Chief of Police is down to three finalists.
The Community Partners Committee refined the list of candidates for the next Chief of Police to three finalists.
The Community Partners Committee consists of community leaders from the faith, business and law enforcement communities in Tallahassee. The committee met on October 9 to consider the eligible applications and narrow the candidate pool.
On Monday, the committee interviewed nine candidates, ultimately refining its recommendations to the following finalists:
- Assistant Chief Antonio Gilliam - who currently serves as the St. Petersburg Police Department's Assistant Chief of Police
- Major Lawrence Revell - who is Tallahassee Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau commander
- Major Lonnie Scott - TPD's Support Bureau Commander
Antonio Gilliam
Assistant Chief Gilliam, who's from Tallahassee and has a criminology degree from Florida State University, joined the St. Petersburg Police Department in 2001 where he began is career as a patrol officer and worked his way up to Assistant Chief of Police.
He started as a patrol officer and later became an undercover vice and narcotics detective. He became a sergeant in 2008, was promoted to lieutenant in 2010 and then major in 2015 before taking the Assistant Chief helm in 2018.
Major Lawrence Revell
Major Revell is from Tallahassee and got his A.A. from Florida A&M University and his criminology degree from Florida State University before getting a Master of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
He has been with TPD since 1992, serving as an officer, a sniper, a patrol sergeant, and a captain. He's worked with the Criminal Investigations Division, Research and Development, and Special Response Team.
He is currently the chair of the Department of Homeland Security Domestic Security Coordinating Group -Specialty Response Teams for the State of Florida and served as a Major in the Criminal Investigations Bureau.
Major Lonnie Scott
Scott, who's from Miami, was first employed as police officer at the Gainesville Police Department in July 1985 and promoted through the ranks to Lieutenant in August of 1990. He served as interim Assistant Chief for 11 months in 1996, was promoted to Captain in 2007 and managed a district in the Patrol Bureau.
He is currently serving as Support Bureau Commander for the Tallahassee Police Department, manages the Criminal Investigations Division, the Special operation Division and the Intelligence, Research (Personnel and Training) Division.
The selection process for the Tallahassee Police Department’s next leader continues on Nov. 18, with a TPD employee panel review, candidate presentations to city leadership and a community meet-and-greet at the Lincoln Center, located at 438 West Brevard Street.
Additional details will be posted on Talgov.com.
At the conclusion of this process, the city manager will select the top candidate and offer that person the position.
People in Tallahassee are getting their first chance to meet the final candidates for the next Chief of Police.
We are down to nine candidates from the original 52.
The city manager said he's impressed with the candidates so far. Among the top concerns from people here -- each candidate's past experience, overall character, and approach to policing.
The interviews are open for anyone in the community to come and listen in. The city wants to make sure they pick someone the community is in favor of.
One person who came has very specific qualities he is looking for in the next police chief.
"I am looking for a police chief that connects with the community as a whole. Right now we have policing for the northside and policing for the southside," said community member Kay Barber. "We want someone to come in as police for all sides equally and justly."
The interviews are happening until 6:45 p.m. Monday evening. After that, there's time for public comments.
The overall goal for the day is to have the candidate list narrowed down to three people. Those three will go through another round of interviews in the next few weeks.
City leaders hope to have the next police chief hired and ready to serve by January.
If you have any feedback the city would like to hear from you. You can offer feedback by clicking here.
