Mayor Buddy Dyer will swear in Thursday a new Chief of Police, Paul Rooney, of the Orlando Police Department.
OPD will hold the time-honored Change of Command ceremony transitioning the department’s responsibility from Chief Demings to Chief Rooney at the Amway Center on west Church Street.
As the newly appointed Police Chief, Rooney will oversee the day-to-day operations of the department and serve as chief counsel to the Mayor on matters of public safety. Chief Rooney has been a member of the Orlando Police Department for more than 24 years and has been serving as Deputy Chief for the more than three years. Chief Rooney has spent much of his career overseeing tactical operations aimed at reducing violent crime and taking drugs off the streets.
Chief Rooney will become the 37th Police Chief.
Demings, 54, who headed OPD for three years, announced her retirement in May. She was the first female to run the department in its 134-year history.
