Politics & Government

Pasco's New Top Cop Discusses Appointment

The 35-year-old takes over as Pasco County Sheriff on May 1.

Chris Nocco sat at the head of a polished table in a conference room at the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office in New Port Richey Monday afternoon and spoke to the press.

At 9:30 in the morning, he said, he learned that Gov. Rick Scott had appointed him to be the new Pasco County Sheriff.

A little more than a month earlier, a uniformed Nocco returned from a Leadership Pasco youth leadership program and announced to three reporters, two from print and one from Patch, that he was applying for the job.

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On Monday afternoon, Nocco, 35, wore a suit and striped tie and spoke in front of microphones, including those of News Channel 8 and 10 News.

His time finishing out Pasco Sheriff Bob White’s term won’t begin until next week, but at this moment, his job was sitting in front of cameras , including those of Bay News 9, ABC Action News, Fox 13, WTSP, and recorders as reporters from the stations, Patch, the Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times asked him about his age, about his experience and about what he would do as sheriff.

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“I hope there will never be a day it’s about Chris Nocco,” he said.

Nocco’s appointment takes effect Sunday, May 1, and he is expected to be sworn in the next day, said sheriff’s office spokesman Kevin Doll.

That he wound up there was no surprise to reporters in the room. Nor was it to Kim Bogart, one of the 11 other candidates who applied for the job of interim sheriff.

“The governor’s appointment shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone,” Bogart said.

Bogart, a Democrat who was not among the three applicants interviewed for the position by the governor's office, said he was continuing as planned to run for sheriff in the 2012 general election. Bogart ran against White in the 2008 general election for sheriff and lost.

Interviewed by tg in addition to Nocco were Maj. Brian Head, commander of the Pasco Sheriff’s Detention Bureau, and Kerry O’Connor, an attorney and former sheriff’s deputy. All are Republicans.

“He’s the least qualified” of the three applicants interviewed, Bogart said over the phone.  

“I truly believe that,” he said, adding that he thinks “the general public believes that.”

And voters will remember it when they go to the polls, he said

Nocco said his priorities as sheriff will be "the war" on the prescription pill epidemic in the county, students and the Pasco School Resource Officers program and the  safety and support of his deputies.

Nocco started his career at the Pasco County Sheriff's Office as captain of administration. He ascended to major and was made responsible for the office's Joint Operations bureau after an agency reorganization in March. 

He came to the agency in 2009 after serving as deputy chief of staff to the Florida Highway Patrol in Tallahassee. Before that, he was chief of staff for Marco Rubio when he served as Speaker of the state House of Representatives. He has served in law enforcement in Broward County, Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and as a school police officer in Philadelphia, where his father also served in law enforcement.

Nocco said two incidents in Fairfax City, in Fairfax County, where he served from 2000 to 2003, drove home  his responsibility to protect the public safety. One was the plane that crashed into the Pentagon during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2011.  The other was the D.C. sniper attacks that followed a year and a half later.

Nocco is to the youngest Pasco sheriff in recent memory, if not the youngest in the agency’s history. Asked about that fact, Nocco said he had experience working with colleagues older than he is.

“I think reaching out to them, getting their experience, is great for us,” he said.

He pointed out that Rubio, now a U.S. Senator was relatively young when he became House Speaker in 2006. State Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, who is slated to be the new speaker, is also young. 

Head said there are no hard feelings between he and Nocco.

“I think Chris Nocco is a fine man,” Head said. “I’m ready to get in and follow his lead. I’m excited about our future.”

Head said both he and Nocco decided during the application process to support each other. In fact, they two carpooled to Tallahassee for their interviews.

“It was never about competition with he and I,” Head said. “It was about serving the citizens of Pasco County. We’re going to remain friends and we’re going to keep the focus on the people and the job at hand.”

White announced on March 16 that he was leaving office at the end of this month to spend more time with his granddaughter. Rumors had circulated that White, who helped raise money for Scott during his campaign for governor, could be in line to be appointed to a state job. White has denied them. He leaves office on April 30, the same day he holds the Sheriff's Shootout benefitting the Sand Soldiers of America and joins the Taste of Pasco festival in Safety Town

Nocco, who played football for the University of Delaware and coaches youth sports at the James P. Gillis Family Banch of the YMCA of the Suncoast, said he wants to build on the foundation White has started in Pasco.

"I must lead first and show everyone that we're headed in the right direction," he said.

Land O' Lakes Patch editor Sherri Lonon contributed to this report.


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