FORT MYERS, Fla. City leaders are expected to vote on the hiring of a new deputy police chief during Monday’s city council meeting.
Randall L. Pepitone, who retired in January after 31 years with the Toledo, Ohio Police Department, has already signed a $118,000 two-year contract. If approved, he will start June 1.
Pepitone would be Fort Myers police’s second leadership hire from Toledo. Police Chief Derrick Diggs retired after 37 years with Toledo police before being hired in Fort Myers.
Pepitone, who retired as a lieutenant in Toledo police’s crime suppression unit, received the department’s Blue Star Medal Award in 2013 after he was accidentally shot in the side of the head by a 92-year-old woman who mistook him for a burglary suspect.
Pepitone’s hiring would, in part, satisfy the second recommendation outlined in a scathing audit of the Fort Myers Police Department. Released in February, the audit alleged cronyism, lack of effective leadership, corruption and limited resources that damaged the agency’s reputation and morale for years.
The recommendation also noted that the department previously had a deputy chief position and suggested hiring two temporary deputy chiefs.
City council members approved the hiring of a deputy chief in March.
This story is the latest in WINK News’ continuing series about the FMPD audit.
