{"id":303161,"date":"2026-06-10T22:23:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:23:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/303161\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T22:23:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:23:25","slug":"who-is-brett-owen-what-to-know-about-tampas-new-acting-police-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/303161\/","title":{"rendered":"Who is Brett Owen? What to know about Tampa\u2019s new acting police chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following the surprise retirement<\/a> of Chief Lee Bercaw on Tuesday morning, Mayor Jane Castor appointed Brett Owen as Tampa\u2019s acting police chief.<\/p>\n

Owen, formerly an assistant police chief, will serve in the top role until a permanent replacement is appointed by the mayor and approved by the Tampa City Council.<\/p>\n

Castor said she would leave that appointment to the incoming mayor, who has yet to be elected but will take over in May 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe wholeheartedly that the position of police chief is the most important decision in the entire administration,\u201d Castor said. \u201cThat decision needs to be left to the next administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Owen will inherit a police department that hopes to continue denting violent crime rates and navigating technological advancements, including the rise of artificial intelligence and drone technology.<\/p>\n

Owen hails from Ohio and was raised in Haines City, according to his biography on the Tampa Police Department website. He holds an associate degree in criminal justice from Polk Community College, a bachelor\u2019s degree in public administration from Barry University and a master\u2019s degree in criminal justice from Saint Leo University.<\/p>\n

Owen joined the Tampa Police Department in 2002 after spending four years as a deputy with the Manatee County Sheriff\u2019s Office. He was promoted to deputy chief in the summer of 2024 and tapped as assistant police chief in January 2025.<\/p>\n

Throughout his career, Owen has completed several specialized training programs focused on leadership and command management. He recently finished the Florida Department of Law Enforcement\u2019s chief executive seminar, a multiweek program focused on education for upper-leadership law enforcement members.<\/p>\n

As assistant chief, Owen oversaw the department\u2019s Criminal Investigations Division and Support Services Division, the latter of which manages training resources and supplies.<\/p>\n

Owen also serves as a board member of the Police Athletic League, a nationwide nonprofit focused on fostering trust between youth and law enforcement officers. He aided efforts to bring the program back under the Tampa police umbrella.<\/p>\n

In his free time,Owen enjoys woodworking, hunting, furniture repurposing and automotive restoration. His decision to join the police force was inspired by the 27-year career of his grandfather, who retired as a lieutenant from the Shaker Heights Police Department in Ohio.<\/p>\n

Owen said Tuesday he was \u201chumbled and honored\u201d to assume the responsibilities of acting chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cI look forward to working alongside all of our patrol officers, our professional staff, supervisors, the mayor and her staff as we carry this agency to the next level,\u201d Owen said. \u201cIt will no doubt be a challenge \u2013 crime is \u2014 but we look forward to it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the surprise retirement of Chief Lee Bercaw on Tuesday morning, Mayor Jane Castor appointed Brett Owen as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[99341,127192,26411,52202,5756,1202,1599,87231,135,137,136,3793],"class_list":["post-303161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-assistant-chief","tag-brett-owen","tag-chief-lee-bercaw","tag-deputy-chief","tag-jane-castor","tag-police-chief","tag-police-department","tag-public-administration","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-tampa-police-department"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303161","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=303161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}