Implementing a command officer development program – while utilizing resources already in place – is one of several goals Keith Touchberry plans to focus on as the newly named president of the Florida Police Chiefs Association. Touchberry, the police chief for the Fellsmere Police Department, said he wants to focus on building the command level officers, which typically includes lieutenants, captains and majors.
Keith Touchberry
PHOTO PROVIDED BY FLORIDA POLICE CHIEFS ASSOCIATION
“I am honored to lead the Florida Police Chiefs Association (FPCA) for the next year as we meet the challenges facing our chosen profession and the communities we serve,” Touchberry said in a statement. “My priorities for the coming year include continuing to promote officer wellness, addressing recruitment and retention, and combatting false media narratives about law enforcement.”
Fellsmere Mayor Joel Tyson swore in Touchberry as the new president of the FPCA during the organization’s 70th Annual Summer Training Conference and Exposition in Palm Beach Gardens last week. Touchberry said he will serve as president until Aug. 2, 2023.
“(The association) is in good hands with Chief Touchberry and the newly installed executive team and board, and I’m incredibly humbled to have had the opportunity to serve this esteemed organization as its president,” Immediate Past President Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department Director Stephan Dembinsky said in a statement.
Touchberry, as the president of the association, already has leadership roles under his belt. Touchberry has served on the FPCA professional standard committee for 15 years and chaired the committee for two years.
He also served on the organization’s legislative committee for four years and oversaw planning of all FPCA conferences and other training programs for two years.
Touchberry has 33 years total of law enforcement experience, which includes working at the police departments in Fellsmere and Vero Beach. Touchberry has served as police chief in Fellsmere – a town with a population of about 5,700 residents – for nearly nine years, his resume showed.
Touchberry previously worked at the Vero Beach Police Department, where he served as a captain from Sept. 2005 to Sept. 2013. He was hired as Fellsmere Police Chief in Sept. 2013.
The FPCA, based out of Tallahassee, is the nation’s third-largest state police chiefs association in the U.S., according to its website. The organization, comprised of more than 1,000 of Florida’s top law enforcement executives and members, serves municipal police departments, airport police, college and university police, tribal police, railroad and port authority police, along with federal, state and county law enforcement agencies.
Photos provided by Florida Police Chiefs Association
