For almost 30 years, Sheriff Chad Chronister has been working to keep Hillsborough County safe at the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Appointed by Governor Rick Scott and subsequently elected in 2018, Sheriff Chronister has kept his agency focused on law and order while evolving the agency to better meet the changing and growing needs of Hillsborough County.
For starters, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office is now the most diverse it has ever been.
Sheriff Chronister believes that deputies should better reflect the community they serve and that our diversity is a strength, not a weakness. As a result, the command staff of the Sheriff’s Office is also the most diverse it’s ever been—the county now has its first female chief deputy and its first African American colonel.
Some notable changes to the Sheriff’s Office under Sheriff Chronister include a new district to increase response times, double-digit drops in the crime rate for consecutive years and a deputy of Sheriff’s Office has trained security personnel in every public school.
More recently, the sheriff instituted a body-worn camera program to increase both accountability and transparency. He oversaw a gun buyback program that has, to-date, removed over 4,000 unwanted firearms off Hillsborough County streets and out of the hands of criminals. He also instituted the Veterans Resurgence Program to help veterans who break the law find a trade and get the mental healthcare they need to return and become productive members of society.
Sheriff Chronister has earned many commendations. His civic associations include board membership positions with Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay and Metropolitan Ministries.
A native of York, PA, Sheriff Chronister is married to Nicole DeBartolo and has two sons, Asher and Zack, and two dogs, Cali and Oreo. He enjoys spending time with his family the most.
To learn more about Sheriff Chronister, visit his website at chadchronister.com. To keep up to date with the sheriff in the community, find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SheriffChadChronister/ and Twitter @ChadChronister.
