A NEW BOSS IS IN TOWN

Colonel Jim Previtera assumed command of the Department of Detention Services on October 6, 2007.  He first joined the Sheriff’s Office in 2005 as the head of the Training Division and Recruitment and Screening Bureau. Colonel Previtera came to the Sheriff’s Office from the United States Secret Service, where he served as a Special Agent in the Vice Presidential Protection Division. Colonel Previtera also served as a member of the training staff at the Secret Service Training Center in Beltsville, Maryland, and as an agent in the Tampa Field Office.

Colonel Previtera began his law enforcement career in 1986 as a deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office and held several patrol and investigative assignments. He was assigned as a corporal in the Special Operations Division when he departed for the Secret Service in 1997. Colonel Previtera has also served as an instructor for the Southeastern Public Safety Institute and the Florida Sheriff’s Association.

Colonel Previtera holds a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from St. Leo College and is a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center and the U.S.D.A. Leadership Training Course.