{"id":301603,"date":"2026-06-09T18:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301603\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T18:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T18:40:27","slug":"tampa-police-chief-lee-bercaw-to-retire-after-30-years-to-teach-at-usf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/301603\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw to retire after 30 years, to teach at USF"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw has submitted a formal letter of resignation to the city, announcing he is stepping down and retiring from his post.<\/p>\n<p>His letter, released on June 9, reads in part: &#8220;Leaving this organization is the hardest decision of my career.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Chief Bercaw will be with the Tampa Police Department until Aug. 6.<\/p>\n<p>Read Chief Bercaw&#8217;s full statement here:<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/1048999198\/Police-Chief-Lee-Bercaw-Retirement-Letter-6-9-26#from_embed\" style=\"color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View Police Chief Lee Bercaw Retirement Letter 6-9-26 on Scribd\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Police Chief Lee Bercaw Retirement Letter 6-9-26 <\/a> by <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/478258405\/Tampa-Bay-28#from_embed\" style=\"color: #098642; text-decoration: underline;\" title=\"View Tampa Bay 28&#039;s profile on Scribd\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Tampa Bay 28 <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Chief Bercaw said he will be taking a teaching post at the University of South Florida.<\/p>\n<p>During a news conference at the Tampa Police Department, Mayor Castor said Assistant Police Chief Brett Owen will become the interim police chief following Bercaw&#8217;s resignation. <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Castor said she will not appoint a new police chief because she is the outgoing mayor. Castor will leave that responsibility to the newly appointed mayor, who will be elected in March 2027.<\/p>\n<p>WATCH PRESS CONFERENCE BELOW<\/p>\n<p>Press conference: Tampa police Chief Lee Bercaw to retire after 30 years<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing story. Tampa Bay 28 reporter Jada Williams will provide more details as they become available.<\/p>\n<p>Share Your Story with Jada<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/JadaWilliams.png\"\/><br \/>Jada Williams is focused on the issues that matter most to people in who live in Tampa and West Hillsborough County. From downtown Tampa to Town \u2018n\u2019 Country and Westcase, Jada works to bring you updates and solutions on everything from crime to infrastructure. Reach out to Jada below with your concerns for your neighborhood.<br \/>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/JADA.WILLIAMS.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>6.1 earthquake off the coast of Cuba, Tampa Bay residents report feeling quake<\/p>\n<p>The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said a 6.1 magnitude earthquake was reported off the coast of Cuba around 2 p.m. on June 8. Viewers and residents around the Tampa Bay area have reported feeling the earthquake.<\/p>\n<p>6.1 earthquake off the coast of Cuba, Tampa Bay residents report feeling quake<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014 Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw has submitted a formal letter of resignation to the city,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[276,19383,26467,1083,135,5910,3670,137,136,9822,3650,1537,208],"class_list":["post-301603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-jada-williams","tag-lee-bercaw","tag-resignation","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-28","tag-tampa-bay-local-news","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tampa-police","tag-university-of-south-florida","tag-usf","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}