The Sanford Police Department is a police agency in Sanford, the county seat of Seminole County, Florida. It employs 140 sworn police officers alongside 24 other employees, and Police Chief Smith. Prior to Chief Smith, Richard Myers was the Interim Police Chief. Myers is the former Chief of Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Appleton, Wisconsin. In March 2012, Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee took a temporary leave of absence during the department's investigation of the shooting death of teenager Trayvon Martin, and Captain Darren Scott was named acting chief of police. Myers took over from Scott in May 2012. In April 2013, Former Elgin, Illinois Deputy Police Chief Cecil Smith took over as the department's chief.
The department's officers are represented by Lodge 140 of the Fraternal Order of Police.
History
In 2003, the Sanford Police Department was awarded a $375,000 federal grant from the Community Oriented Policing Services to help pay for five officers' salaries.
In February 2010, press reports indicated one officer was fired, and another, Ned Golden, Jr., was suspended for two weeks after sending sexist and racist text messages on a department computer.
In 2010, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report noted that Sanford police Officer Christopher McClendon had misused his official position by helping a car dealer recover cars from delinquent customers in exchange for having his own car payments forgiven.
In November, 2010, the Sanford Police Department moved to a new $20 million, 76,000-square-foot Public Safety Complex, which it shares with the Sanford Fire Department and a five-bay fire station. Built to withstand 150 mph hurricane winds, the two-story complex also houses Sanford's emergency operations center. The police and fire departments have separate and much larger facilities with a shared atrium, and there is a public meeting room. The police department also has a room specifically to conduct voice stress analysis, a type of lie detector test, and the fire department's communication system is integrated with a new dispatching system in Seminole County. The building uses an integrated video surveillance and access control system from Genetec. Sanford's Public Safety Complex is located between the city's Goldsboro Community and the State Farmers Market. At the time of its planning, the complex was considered part of Sanford's efforts to revitalize the Goldsboro area.
In January, 2011, the same Officer Golden mentioned earlier was assigned to retraining after approaching a car of people at a gas station with a drawn gun. Officer Golden grabbed the car when it pulled away. He then claimed the driver of the car tried to kill him by driving away while he held on to the car. No charges were filed in the case. In August 2011, after an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Golden was fired. The state report recommended he be charged with filing a false police report, official misconduct and assault with a deadly weapon. No charges were filed by the State Attorney's Office. Officer Golden is the son of the head of the local police union.
In that same month, the chief of the department, Brian Tooley, took an early retirement as a result of an incident involving one of his officer's sons. Justin Collison was caught on video tape in an unprovoked assault on a homeless man outside of a bar. Press reports indicate Collison, the son of a police lieutenant, was not arrested or charged with a crime by the Sanford Police Department until the video became public 7 weeks later.
In April 2011, Officer DeAnthony Shamar was fired when it was discovered he had used a boy scout as a proxy buyer in a drug investigation. In his nine years as a Sanford police officer, Shamar had been investigated by the department 25 times.