Starting Saturday, the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Police Department will have a permanent place inside Florida\u2019s State Capitol.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Chief Richard Beary has been selected for the Florida Law Enforcement Officers\u2019 Hall of Fame. Beary is among five officers to be inducted in a ceremony at the Capitol that will start at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 20.<\/p>\n
Established by the legislature in 2014, the Hall of Fame was created to recognize and honor exemplary law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line for Florida\u2019s citizens and visitors. Each year, inductees\u2019 names and photos are added to a Law Enforcement Officers\u2019 Hall of Fame plaque located inside the Capitol Building.<\/p>\n
Chief Beary, who celebrates 10 years with Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½PD this summer, was nominated for the honor by the Florida Police Chiefs Association. Nominations to the Hall of Fame are reviewed by a selection committee and approved by the Governor and Cabinet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am humbled and honored to be recognized by my peers and the leadership of the State of Florida,\u201d Chief Beary said. \u201cMy devotion to community service was instilled in me as a young man, and I hope that during my career, I have inspired others to place service above self.\u201d<\/p>\n
His career in law enforcement started 40 years ago, when he first followed in the footsteps of his father, Ray, the chief of Maitland and Winter Park. His older brother, Kevin, was the former Orange County Sheriff, and two of his children also work for local law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
When Chief Beary graduated from the police academy at Seminole State College at age 18 in 1977, he was the youngest officer in Florida. He had completed the academy before he even finished high school, and at first he was too young to buy his own gun and bullets, so his parents had to.<\/p>\n
After first working for the Altamonte Springs Police Department, he went on to become the police chief of Lake Mary before joining Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ as chief.<\/p>\n
In October 2014, Chief Beary was sworn in as president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. During the next year, he traveled around the world to advocate for community-oriented policing and to consult with leaders and citizens about policies and best practices. The first university chief to ever serve as IACP president, he led the 25,000-member organization during a challenging time of civil unrest and mistrust in police.<\/p>\n
Through it all, Chief Beary maintained his focus on community policing, a philosophy that makes citizens and law enforcement partners in preventing and reducing crime and the fear of crime. It\u2019s a model that\u2019s in place at Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½.<\/p>\n
Chief Beary holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in public affairs from Rollins College and a master\u2019s degree in criminal justice from Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½. A graduate of the 143rd session of the FBI National Academy, he also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Seminole State College of Florida and has been a certified law enforcement trainer since 1981.<\/p>\n
In addition to IACP, Chief Beary is a member of several state, national and international professional organizations. He\u2019s received numerous awards from civic and service groups, and he\u2019s twice been awarded the Medal of Valor for Performance Undertaken at Great Personal Hazard.<\/p>\n
In his spare time\u2014which doesn\u2019t come around all that often\u2014Chief Beary enjoys spending time with his wife, children and grandson and riding his Harley-Davidson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starting Saturday, the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ Police Department will have a permanent place inside Florida\u2019s State Capitol. That\u2019s because Chief Richard Beary has been selected for the Florida Law Enforcement Officers\u2019 Hall of Fame. Beary is among five officers to be inducted in a ceremony at the Capitol that will start at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 20. Established by the legislature in…","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":62377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[15992,5,6,27],"tags":[1115,15761,3978,202,4911,4936],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-77517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-colleges","category-community","category-student-life","tag-criminal-justice","tag-pegasus-briefs","tag-richard-beary","tag-alumni","tag-ucf-police-department","tag-ucfpd"],"yoast_head":"\n