Derrick Diggs sworn in as new FMPD chief

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Derrick Diggs was sworn in as the new Fort Myers Police Department chief late Monday afternoon.

“I’m going to treat this and protect all of you in this community, because it’s now my home,” Diggs, a former police chief in Toledo, Ohio, said while addressing the crowd at City Council for the first time as head of the department.

Diggs faces a variety of challenges in taking over a department that has not had a permanent chief for the past year.

Recently, the City of Fort Myers has received worldwide media coverage of shootings, including the death of Expavious Tyrell Taylor, 20, at ZombiCon and Sean Archilles, 14, and Stef’an Strawder, 18, outside Club Blu.

Fort Myers resident Martin Peterson believes the chief’s first priority should be to “stop the violence. Get the violence corrected then I think we can move forward.”

Tobias McKay, who grew up in Dunbar, says he’s seen young lives taken by street violence and the divide between police and the community. He said he feels a renewed sense of hope with Diggs as chief.

“I think we can bring real positivity back to this community, you know what I mean?” he said.

As the new chief, Diggs will also have to reach for a higher rate of closure for homicides in Fort Myers. For the past 10 months, only 27 percent, four out of 15 murders, have been solved. That’s the lowest rate of success among law enforcement in Lee and Charlotte counties.

“I worked in the criminal justice system in Miami for years,” said Judy Alves. “I can tell you that not having a quote ‘eye witness’ is not always the biggest problem in solving a crime. I don’t think these police are trained well enough, I don’t think they know enough about forensics.”

Following his swearing in, Diggs said he was honored and humbled to have been chosen as chief. He also said he plans to be out in the community meeting with residents as part of his goal to have FMPD regain the people’s trust.

He said he hopes to explore new police officer training and techniques.

“We are going to make sure (they have) the tools they need, the training they need, so that we can solve the crimes we have out there outstanding,” Diggs said.

Mayor Randy Henderson is behind Diggs’ initiatives, saying the city needs to “expand our technology.”