Jacksonville sheriff touts new command staff, addresses controversy over rank reversions

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville’s new sheriff, T.K. Waters, addressed recent shake-ups in JSO’s command staff as he unveiled his new staff Tuesday afternoon in his first official press conference since being sworn in.

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Waters touted his new leadership lineup’s experience, noting the team comes with a combined 1,002 years of law enforcement experience.

But the changes to leadership aren’t without controversy, with some alleging a political motivation behind the decision to revert the rank and or remove nine officers from command staff.

The command changes have come under fire from his challenger in the recent general election.

Water’s former Democratic opponent, Lakesha Burton, suggested in recent media interviews that rank reversions of some JSO command staff came as punishment for supporting her over Waters in the race for sheriff.

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But Waters pushed back on the idea that politics motivated any of his staffing decisions.

“Every governor brings a staff. I brought a staff, a staff of people I can trust and the very best people. As far as the comments about what it’s for, we’ll leave that for them to think about,” Waters said. “But when it comes to what we’re doing, we’re doing it here because it’s important for me to have a good team, a strong team and experienced team that we can trust to make sure JSO moves in the right direction.”

Waters’ new command staff consists of 41 officers.

Three out of four come in with at least 20 years of experience serving with JSO.

“Our goal is to make every member of Duval County safe,” Waters said.

Waters highlighted five new members of his command staff during the Tuesday press conference.

Four come with a military and policing background, and another, Assistant Chief Edwin Cayenne, passed on a job with the FBI to take a leadership role at JSO.

“I highlight those individuals because I want Jacksonville to know that we’re full of serving leaders. This agency is going to thrive, it’s going to move forward and we’re gonna take care of this city the way it should be taken care of,” Waters said.

You can find a full breakdown of JSO’s new leadership team here.

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Below you’ll find a list of all the command staff either ousted from leadership or receiving a rank reversion under Waters.

Command Staff Receiving Rank Reversion:

Chief Paul Restivo (Rank reverted from two star to one star)

Chief Scott Dingee (Rank reverted from two star to one star)

Director Deloris O’Neal (Rank reverted from three star to two star)

Chief George Pratt (gone from command staff)

Asst. Chief C.E. Waldrup (gone from command staff)

Asst. Chief J.R. Brennock (gone from command staff)

Asst. Chief J.L. Randolph (gone from command staff)

Asst T.J. Cox (gone from command staff)

Asst. Chief D.L. Wesley (gone from command staff)