Fellsmere Police Chief Keith Touchberry to lead Florida Police Chiefs Association

FELLSMERE — Officer wellness, recruitment and retention are just three of the priorities Police Chief Keith Touchberry is setting for himself as he takes on the presidency of the Florida Police Chiefs Association.

Touchberry, 58, was sworn in as president by Fellsmere Mayor Joel Tyson the second week of August during the association’s 70th Summer Training Conference in Palm Beach Gardens.

Also continuing on the Florida Police Chief’s Association board overseeing District 6 for another year is Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey.

Active with the Florida Police Chiefs Association for fifteen years, Touchberry served on the professional standards committee and legislative committee that helps advance police priorities in Tallahassee.

"I am honored to lead the Florida Police Chiefs Association for the next year as we meet the challenges facing our chosen profession and the communities we serve," said Touchberry. "My priorities for the coming year include continuing to promote officer wellness, addressing recruitment and retention, and combating false media narratives about law enforcement."

After retiring from the Vero Beach Police Department, Touchberry joined the Fellsmere force as chief in 2013, and has created partnerships between the Police Department and the Fellsmere community, focusing on some of the same issues he wants to address on a statewide level.

“The state of Florida has come a long way with recruitment and retention issues,” said Touchberry. “But the initiative this year is to develop programs for command officers. I want to formalize the areas that help prepare command level officers to become police chiefs.”

Touchberry said his goal is to identify areas where gaps may exist in training officers statewide and seek out the best possible ways to provide that training.

“We will scan the training environment and see what we’re already taking advantage of and identify what areas we’re lacking in,” said Touchberry. “Then we can provide those opportunities to our officers across the state.”

Another area Touchberry wants to focus his energies on is the health and wellness of police officers, particularly in the area of mental health. He’s concerned with the increasing number of first responders being diagnosed with PTSD and wants the Florida Police Chiefs Association to expand health and wellness programs across the state.

Touchberry will have a busy agenda traveling across the state representing the Florida Police Chiefs Association as president. The position means he could be appointed by the governor to sit on special law enforcement committees, and will make nominations of officers to be considered for induction into the Florida Law Enforcement Officers’ Hall of Fame.

“I’m fortunate to have the support of the city of Fellsmere,” said Touchberry. “They know this is a big task, but I’m confident we will be able to manage my time.”

During his 30-year law enforcement career, Touchberry has remained an active educator. He has a master's degree in criminal justice from the University of Florida. He teaches at Indian River State College and Florida Institute of Technology. He has taught ethics classes to future police chiefs through the association he now heads up.

Past Florida Police Chief Association president Stephan Dembinsky said he is confident the organization will continue to move forward under Touchberry’s leadership.

"FPCA is in good hands with Chief Touchberry and the newly installed executive team and board,” said Dembinsky, who heads up the Daytona Beach Shores Public Safety Department. “I'm incredibly humbled to have had the opportunity to serve this esteemed organization as its president.”

The Florida Police Chiefs Association is the third largest state police chiefs association in the United States. It is composed of more than 1,000 of the state’s top law enforcement executives and members. FPCA serves municipal police departments, airport police, college and university police, tribal police, railroad and port authority police, private business and security firms, as well as federal, state and county law enforcement agencies.

Janet Begley is a local freelance writer for TCPalm.com. If you like articles like this and other TCPalm coverage of Treasure Coast news, please support our journalism and subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Fellsmere's Touchberry to lead 3rd largest police chiefs group in US