Titusville Police Chief Announces Retirement

By  //  August 16, 2012

With Department Since 1985

BREVARD COUNTY • TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA – The longtime chief of the Titusville Police Department is stepping down.

Titusville Police Chief Anthony "Tony" Bollinger has announced his retirement after leading the department since 2002. (Image courtesy City of Titusville)

Anthony “Tony” Tony Bollinger, who has led the Titusville Police Department since 2002, has informed Titusville city manager Mark Ryan that he plans to retire effective Friday.

Bollinger, a 1981 graduate of Titusville High School, joined the police force in Titusville in 1985 as a patrol officer. He served as a detective in the department’s Criminal Investigation Section from 1988 to 1992.

In 1992 he was promoted to Sergeant and supervised the uniformed patrol division and also investigated cases as a Detective Sergeant under then Chief Carl T. Newland Jr.

Early in his career in law enforcement, Bollinger became a member of the police department’s SWAT team and rose to eventually become the Titusville Police Department SWAT commander.

He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1996 and again to the rank of Commander in 1999.

In 2002, Bollinger was appointed as Interim Chief of Police upon the retirement of Chief Frank Ross. He was made permanent police chief in 2004, beating out a field of 80 candidates in a nationwide search for the position.

Lately Bollinger has been an outspoken opponent of a Titusville Citizen Budget Advisory Committee that has proposed eliminating as many of 14 officers from the police department’s 84 officers in an effort to reduce costs.

The search time frame for a replacement for Bollinger has not been made public.