After a four-month nationwide search that produced 26 applicants, Fruitland Park has appointed Orange County Sheriff’s Captain Michael A. Fewless Chief of Police.
Fewless, 55, will take over a from former chief Terry Isaacs, who resigned in March after an EEOC complaint that was later withdrawn.
La Venia said Fewless earned a bachelor of science degree in religion from Liberty University and joined the sheriff’s office in 1985. Fewless is director the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange (CFIX), one of more than 70 Homeland Security “fusion centers” located throughout the United States.
Fusion centers help coordinate intelligence between local and federal agencies to promote terrorism awareness.
Over the past 30 years Fewless has twice headed the Orange County Sheriff’s Internal Affairs division. His positions have included Watch Commander and director of the Sheriff’s Special Investigations Division.
Fewless drew the ire of gun rights proponents in 2011 when he lobbied a state senate committee that was considering a bill to allow gun owners with concealed weapons permits to carry their weapons openly.
Fewless showed committee members pictures of outlaw gang members with concealed carry permits who would be allowed to carry weapons openly if the bill passed.
Florida law prohibits identification of concealed carry permit holders.
Fewless was nevertheless cleared of any wrongdoing. A Tarpon Springs attorney filed a civil suit against the Sheriff’s Office over the matter in April, claiming it took three years to prepare the suit because of difficulty in locating the gang members Fewless identified.
Fewless has been married for 35 years. His son is a sheriff’s deputy in Orange County and his daughter is Director of Development for the Union Rescue Mission in Orlando, which operates the city’s homeless shelters.
Fewless told city commissioners he plans to make Fruitland Park’s police department the best in the county.
“I’m looking forward to restoring professionalism, ethics and dignity to the office of the chief of this agency,” Fewless told commissioners.
“This city has been through an unfortunate time and we want to move past that. I look forward to that challenge,” he said.
Lake County Sheriff’s Captain Todd English received high praise for his service as Interim Police Chief since April.
Last month, English terminated one police officer and accepted the resignation of a second following an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. FDLE investigators reported they had failed to turn over personal property of an arrest suspect who was an FDLE undercover agent.
The State Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute the officers.
English will continue on the job for another two weeks and commissioners plan to acknowledge his service during the commission’s July 28 meeting, at which time Fewless will be officially sworn in.
Fewless takes over the department Aug. 1.
