ST. PETERSBURG — The St. Petersburg-Pinellas Civitan Club presented its 40th annual Field Training Officer of the Year award April 17 at the St. Petersburg Police Department, honoring Officer Quentin-Lee Morgan for 2025.
The award goes annually to a field training officer nominated and elected by the officers he or she has personally trained.
Civitan Club President Maria Christiano said the award was established in 1985 by Steve Thomas, a local attorney and past club president who died in 2018. The presentation has become a tradition that brings together police department personnel, club members, the honoree and the officer’s family and friends.
Club Chaplain Norm Bungard opened the ceremony with an invocation and a nondenominational blessing for all officers.
Morgan was born in Cut and Shoot, Texas, and grew up in Jacksonville. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2007 and served two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After his discharge, he joined the St. Petersburg Police Department in 2015 and made the SWAT team a year later. He now serves as SWAT sniper team leader.
Morgan is a certified high-liability instructor in firearms, rifle and defensive tactics. He joined the field training unit in 2022, where he has become known as a mentor and a specialist in de-escalation.
“Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to service,” Christiano said as she presented Morgan with a glass sculpture.
Police Chief Anthony Holloway emphasized the value of solid training. “Like building a house, it’s all about the foundation,” Holloway said.
Maj. Gabriel Lopez praised Morgan’s attention to detail, his relationships with the public and his colleagues, and the standard of excellence he sets within the department.
Morgan opened his remarks with a disarming admission: “I never wanted to be a cop.”
As a teenager, he said, he was rudderless. He dropped out of high school, earned his GED and found direction when he enlisted in the Army.
Morgan credited his wife, Jessica, a teacher, with shaping how he approaches his work. Watching her connect with her students, he said, made him rethink how officers connect with the public.
Young people raised on electronic devices, Morgan said, often struggle with face-to-face communication — a challenge for civilians and officers alike. He has built training exercises around the problem.
“As a training exercise, I have officers engage random people in consensual conversations with the purpose of finding out what their favorite color is,” he said. The point is to get people talking.
“It’s helpful to be able to encourage people to talk about what may be the worst day of their life,” Morgan said.
Asked what it meant to be selected by his peers, Morgan said: “I think all awards should come from one’s colleagues. It means more than when it comes from leadership.”
Club Secretary Bonnie Ruth said the St. Petersburg-Pinellas Civitan Club was founded in April 1921 and is part of an international organization of service clubs focused on community needs, with an emphasis on serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The club is a member of the Central Pinellas Chamber of Commerce. Members volunteer with organizations including Parc Center for Disabilities, Clearwater Free Clinic, St. Pete Free Clinic, Wounded Warriors Abilities Ranch, Arc Tampa Bay, Pinellas Education Foundation, Habitat for Humanity and the VFW.
For information on volunteering, visit stpetecivitan.org.