http://www.tampabay.com/news/public...c-ward-schedule-11-am-news-conference/2329513
TAMPA Police Chief Eric Ward unexpectedly announced his retirement Thursday morning, a little more than two years after Mayor Bob Buckhorn named him chief.
Ward's salary is $166,420 annually.
It wasn't an easy decision for me to make," Ward said during a news conference at police headquarters. "I've spent 29 years of my life working for this agency, basically all of my adult career."
Buckhorn named Assistant Chief Brian Dugan as interim chief and plans to open a national search to find Ward's successor. That's relatively unusual at City Hall, where four of the last six police chiefs were promoted from within.
Several City Council members said Ward's retirement caught them by surprise and they were sad to see him go. Frank Reddick said he was "totally stunned" when he got a text from someone at the Police Department that began, "Are you sitting down?"
After graduating from Hillsborough High School in 1984, Ward worked for the Tampa Housing Authority before starting a 29-year career at TPD. He has worked in nearly every part of the agency, including as commander of the bomb squad, the hostage negotiations team and SWAT team.*
The responses (to those community conversations) were starting to be positive," said Reddick, who represents East Tampa. "I thought he was on the right track addressing issues, particularly those important to the African-American community."
He arrived as the agency was under scrutiny following *advertiser censored*Tampa Bay Times*investigation that found that Tampa police issued more bike citations than any other law enforcement agency in Florida, and that eight out of 10 of them went to black cyclists.
TPD also has expanded its commitment to the Police Athletic League, where the young Eric Ward stayed busy playing football. And Ward has raised funds for scholarships and supported the after-school and summer programs of the Resources in Community Hope or RICH House program.
http://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/post/doj-tampa-bike-stops-unfairly-affect-black-residents
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Police Chief Eric Ward said they will continue to work with the U.S. Department of Justice on how to best implement the recommendations.
Buckhorn said he believes the city has been transparent throughout the review process and emphasized that the report did not find police were intentionally ticketing mostly black bicyclists.
There was no discriminatory practices, Buckhorn said. This was not a police tactic that was targeted at anybody of a specific race, it was targeted at criminals.
When asked at Wednesdays press conference if the city would apologize for implementing a program that disproportionately affected black residents, Buckhorn said he would never apologize for being tough on crime.
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