One of the Tampa Police Department’s two assistant chiefs was placed on administrative leave this week, and no one has said why.
The agency’spublic information office confirmed Monday that Ruth Cate was on administrative leave, but the office did not respond to a follow-up email seeking more information.
A spokesperson for Tampa Mayor Jane Castor referred questions about the matter to the police department.
Cate remained employed with the department as of Monday.
She has been the assistant chief of operations since 2025. She serves alongside Assistant Chief Brett Owen, who oversees investigations and support. Cate and Owen report directly to police Chief Lee Bercaw.
Reached by phone late Monday, Cate told the Tampa Bay Times she had a meeting scheduled Tuesday with the city’s human resources office and that she would talk thereafter.
She did not immediately respond to a follow-up call and text message Tuesday afternoon.
Cate, 54, has worked for the Tampa Police Department for 30 years, rising steadily in rank. Her previous roles included serving as a school resource officer and a narcotics detective. She also led investigations in the sex crimes and child abuse squad and in the internal affairs bureau.
She has been a prominent face of the city’s police department for the last four years as a member of the command staff.
As a major, she oversaw patrol operations in District 1, which covers South and West Tampa.
In December 2024, while serving as deputy chief, Cate helped lead the manhunt for Jahmir Moore, a 15-year-old murder suspect, after he briefly escaped from a juvenile detention facility.
Earlier that year, she was at the center of a minor controversy over a mass email she sent that aimed to show support for the city’s female officers.
In the letter, Cate referenced the public reaction from right-wing media personalities to the role of women in the Secret Service following the assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.
“We all have to support each other, our fellow officers, regardless of our demographics, and most importantly the community,” Cate wrote. She added that the command staff believes in the female officers “and your ability to do your job effectively and in many cases better than our male counterparts.”
Her words stoked a response from Brandon Barclay, the president of the Tampa Police Benevolent Association, the union that represents the department’s 1,000 officers. Barclay, in a letter to Bercaw, said he’d received complaints about Cate’s letter and took issue in particular with the line about women officers doing their jobs better, calling it “shocking.”
The city at the time said it would conduct an administrative review of the email.
Cate graduated from C. Leon King High School in 1989 and obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Florida State University in 1993. She earned a master’s degree in criminal justice leadership in 2024 from the San Diego-based National University, according to her LinkedIn page.
A Vietnamese-American, Cate is the highest-ranking Asian American officer to serve in the Tampa Police Department, according to her official biography.
Times staff writer Nina Moske contributed to this report.