Tampa mayor had hopes set on Miami candidate for police chief, email shows

TAMPA — Late in the process to pick Tampa’s next police chief, Mayor Jane Castor apparently had her hopes set on a finalist other than the one she would ultimately appoint to the post.

“Hoping she will be our next chief,” Castor wrote in a Jan. 27 email about Miami Police Department Assistant Chief Cherise Gause, one of three finalists for the job at that point.

Twelve days later, Castor announced that she had selected Mary O’Connor, a former Tampa assistant police chief who retired from the department in 2016.

What happened in the days between that email and Castor’s announcement is unclear. But the email, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times through a public records request, sheds some light on Castor’s thinking during a search and selection process that some have criticized as lacking in transparency and community engagement.

The email also appears to lend credibility to the Castor administration’s denial of a theory that critics of the search process and selection have floated since the announcement: that the mayor, a former Tampa police chief who worked with O’Connor for several years, wanted her for the job all along and merely went through the motions of a search.

In response to questions from the Tampa Bay Times for this story, Castor’s spokesperson Adam Smith replied with one sentence.

“The mayor did her due diligence, came up with three outstanding finalists, and ultimately selected the most qualified person to lead the Tampa Police Department,” Smith said.

The city charter requires the mayor’s police chief appointee to be confirmed by at least four of the City Council’s seven members. The confirmation vote is set for the council’s March 17 meeting. O’Connor has been doing the job since Castor made the announcement.

After Chief Brian Dugan retired last fall, Castor tapped Ruben “Butch” Delgado to serve as interim chief while Castor conducted what she described as a nationwide search. She opted not to advertise for the post. Instead, she worked with Rodney Monroe, a former police chief for multiple U.S. cities, to seek out candidates.

On Jan. 26, Castor’s office announced that she had narrowed her search to Delgado, Gause and O’Connor. The announcement said there would be an invitation-only public forum that evening featuring the three candidates. Delgado was unable to attend the event, which was also live-streamed online, because of his father’s death.

That afternoon, another email shows, Castor had one-hour interviews scheduled with O’Connor and Gause over Zoom.

The next morning, Castor received an email from Gil Kerlikowske. A former Seattle police chief who started his career as an officer at the St. Petersburg Police Department, Kerlikowske is a past president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association and served as director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration.

“I worked, and perhaps you did also, with Cherise Gause at MPD,” Kerlikowske wrote. ”I was very impressed with her.”

Kerlikowske was apparently referencing Castor’s previous work as an independent monitor who reviewed Miami police’s practices and policies under an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Castor responded that evening with a four-sentence message.

”Thanks, Gil,” she wrote. “Hoping she will be our next chief. I appreciate your insight.”

On Feb. 8, Castor held a news conference to announce that she selected O’Connor for the job. Castor said O’Connor’s experience with the department, along with perspective gleaned from working after that as a policing consultant and trainer, made her the right choice.

So did Castor offer Gause the job? Smith did not address that question this week or last month, when the Times asked about a rumor circulating that Castor had offered the job to Gause first with the condition she bring on O’Connor as an assistant chief, which Gause declined.

When a Times reporter asked Castor during her Coffee with Castor event on Thursday if she offered Gause the job, the mayor said no.

Reached by phone last month, Gause declined to comment, saying the decision had been made and she was ready to move on. She did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

Reached for this story, O’Connor said she wasn’t familiar with Castor’s selection process. O’Connor said she has heard the same “rumblings” about Gause being offered the job.

“That’s been going around from the beginning, and to tell you the truth, it undermines me,” O’Connor said. “The rumor mill is not a good place to live in, period. I think it’s really important that I’m able to do my job, and I have 1,400 employees who need continuity.”

Gause joined the Miami Police Department in 1994 and later worked as a patrol sergeant and a lieutenant over field operations and criminal investigations, according to her resume. In 2019, she was tapped for an assistant chief position. In that role, she helps oversee a $276 million budget and roughly 1,750 employees.

“I am motivated and passionate about policing, and changing its culture,” Gause wrote in her cover letter.

Times staff writer Charlie Frago contributed to this report.