Coinciding with the start of Women’s History Month, the City of Milton has announced the hiring of Jennifer Frank as the city’s next Police Chief, the first woman to hold the job. Frank is also making history as the first woman in Northwest Florida and 21st in the state to become police chief at the municipal level.
Via Zoom, from her current office in Vermont, she talked about her law enforcement career and what she wants to accomplish as Milton’s top cop.
It's not what Frank would have preferred, but our conversation began with some reflection on the historical aspect of her new job as the region's first woman city police chief.
Jennifer Frank: You know, one of the things I look at is I know that, the firsts are always important, right? And it's important to memorialize. We appreciate these opportunities to kind of be leaders in our community. But what I really want to focus on is that I think I'm the right person for the job because of the unique skill set that I bring. I'm excited to be able to build off of the leadership that Chief (Tony) Tindell has already established and to really join this community and be able to build off of that and come up with some new engagement opportunities. My gender, it's relevant, it's there, and I'm excited for the leadership that I can bring to new young women to remind them that this is a policing role. That's a great opportunity for them. But the reality of it is, as I keep telling folks, I'm just chief. And it doesn't matter what gender I am, what economic, or racial or cultural makeup I come from. It's all about doing the job and serving the citizens of Milton and the greater area in the region.
Nancy Newland Beverly served as chief of the Pensacola State College Police Department from 1994 to 2011. Before that, in 1975, she became the second female police officer at the Pensacola Police Department. And as part of their commemoration of Women's History Month, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office is recognizing Barbara Jean Kersey, who became their first female deputy in 1974.
For her part, Frank has been in law enforcement for nearly two decades. After some years in the classroom.
Jennifer Frank: I started out as a high school social studies teacher. And during that time, there was an incident in my school. A student actually brought a loaded 9 mm handgun into a classroom. I happened to be able to have a good relationship with that student and was able to de-escalate it and remove the firearm from him. No one was hurt. We were able to make sure that he had some offender accountability for that. And we learned a lot. This was early on. This was just after Columbine. It was before we had programs like CRASE (Civilian Response to Active Shooter Events) and ALICE (Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate) and lockdowns in our schools. But it allowed us to really recognize that sometimes it's not even about the policies and the procedures and the programs. That situation was de-escalated because of relationships that had been built long before that incident occurred.
During her law enforcement career, Frank has worked with multiple agencies, including the Plymouth State Police, Norwich Police Department, and currently she’s winding down as chief of police in Windsor, Vermont. There, in addition to a push for more transparency and accountability, she championed community-driven policing strategies that reduced violent crime by 50%. Under her leadership, the department received the National Leadership and Community policing award in 2023.
Jennifer Frank: We start to look at what we're doing from our community partnerships. I'm a part of multiple organizations here, reaching out to our faith-based organizations, to our local residents, our businesses, and creating some real partnerships that have helped us to be proactive and preventative to prevent these other incidents from occurring in our community. When you start to look at our community-oriented policing, I really focus on our effort with our youth. I've found that if you can connect with the youth, sometimes something as simple as a basketball game, you can really reach out to them and make those connections that are valuable later on.
With her children and parents living in other parts of Florida, Frank says she's excited about coming to this part of the Panhandle, which still has elements of Old South hospitality, but is also experiencing a lot of growth. She says her first days and weeks on the job will be spent listening and learning.
Jennifer Frank: Coming in as an outsider, there is an element of how I do bring some new ideas, but I need to really understand the culture of the community. With that in mind though, every agency has opportunities for growth. No matter how great we're doing, if we're not constantly changing, constantly looking for new opportunities, then we're failing our citizens. And certainly we're going to look at ways that we can continue to ensure safety through community-oriented policing. How can we be more transparent and accountable so that folks in our community know the great things that the Milton officers are doing?
In addition to development of community policing strategies for the city of Milton, Frank wants to focus on officer training and wellness. Also, dealing with the challenge of traffic safety is something she says she heard a lot about during her recent visit.
Jennifer Frank: Are there areas we can focus on that are more prone to accidents or dangerous driving behaviors, and how can we do that in a proactive way? You're not going to ticket your way out or arrest your way out of an incident, right? We've got to come up with those other strategies, and that could be something as educating the public on traffic laws or pedestrian safety, some of the dangers of distracted driving, and working collaboratively together.
Jennifer Frank is the incoming police chief for the city of Milton, replacing Chief Tony Tall, who is retiring after eight years at the helm of the Milton department and 36 years overall. Frank will officially step into the role in late April.
