FMPD Roll Call

From Marshals to Modern Policing: Chief Fields on Growth, Gear, and a New HQ

• Megan

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Fort Myers is growing fast, but the story we’re telling is how safety keeps pace. Chief Jason Fields joins us to open the doors on FMPD’s past, present, and next chapter—why a small city can operate with big-city capability, how leadership changes set a new tempo, and what it takes to modernize without losing touch with the community. From early marshals and two patrol cars to a near fully staffed department supported by a skilled civilian backbone, we map the real systems behind steady crime reduction as population climbs.

We walk through the two pillars that guide our strategy: relentless crime fighting and genuine community engagement. That focus shows up in the details—fleet updates that cut costs and downtime while embracing the thin blue line identity, F-150 durability for K9 teams, and procurement choices that put more vehicles on the road faster. It shows up in the uniforms too: breathable materials and load-bearing outer vests built for Southwest Florida’s heat, helping officers work longer and safer with growing equipment demands. These aren’t cosmetic changes; they’re practical upgrades that boost readiness, comfort, and response.

The headline ahead is our future headquarters. Right now, units are scattered across substations and shared spaces. The new, state-of-the-art facility brings everyone together: expanded dispatch, evidence capacity, a modern gun range, protected vehicle storage, and a large community room designed for real public access. Unifying operations tightens communication, accelerates intel, and strengthens service citywide. Chief Fields shares a clear vision—stack small improvements into outsized gains and keep building a premier agency tailored to Fort Myers’ growth.

If you care about how policing evolves to meet a city’s needs—technology, talent, transparency, and trust—you’ll find substance here. Hit follow, share with a neighbor who loves Fort Myers, and tell us: what should we explore next?

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to FMPD Roll Call, the official podcast of the Fort Myers Police Department. I'm Megan Fuentes, your public information officer. For our very first episode, we're joined by Chief Jason Fields to talk about his vision for the department and the future of FMPD. Let's get started. Roll call begins now. So obviously, as you can see, we have come a an insanely long way.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, the department has a long history in uh the city of Fort Myers dating back to 1885. I said that's uh if my math is correct, it's over about 150 years somewhere in that ballpark. Or a little bit over, a little bit under. But yeah, the department's been around for a long time. A lot of tradition, a lot of history, dating back to, I believe, from what I've been told, some of the historical data that we found was that uh it was originally patrolled by marshals dating going all the way from Key West all the way up through southwest Florida. So uh obviously not a lot of people around in that time. So their jurisdiction was awfully vast. And uh as we've grown over the years, we've got a little, you could see a little substation downtown Main Street leading us up to our building that we've been in, that we're in right now, we've been in for the last uh probably about 40-ish years. And uh I don't want to spoil alert, but uh looking forward to our next building.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell What the future has in store basically is where we're where we're headed. How has this department evolved? So obviously we saw we used to be back in Main Street, and we see, you know, we've been in this building for 40 years. So tell me how this department has evolved over this time.

SPEAKER_01:

So the department has evolved in probably just about every area of policing as Southwest Florida has grown. Probably the biggest spike that we've seen is with just the last few years, probably within the last decade, there's the the influx uh coming of Southwest Florida. And we've been able to manage that growth and implement new technologies, increase our manpower, everything that we need to do to ensure a safe city.

SPEAKER_00:

And with growth, obviously comes growth within the department. What makes FMPD unique?

SPEAKER_01:

I think some of our uniqueness comes from we are a, I like to say it or I've said it before, that we are a small city, maybe in size, but as far as types of calls, incidents that we respond to, type of environment, the type of neighborhoods, it's got a big city feel to it. So we kind of get best of the both worlds.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I definitely see that, especially when you go downtown, you kind of have that small downtown feel. But then you see our bike officers and you see the response times that Fort Myers has. When there's a call, you'll see like two, three patrol cars because we have the capability of doing that. And I think that's really important for our residents and visitors.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Powell Absolutely. A city police department is going to give you that more of a customized uh feel to it.

SPEAKER_00:

So, Chief, you have been chief of Fort Myers Police Department for two years. And how long have you been with the department?

SPEAKER_01:

Uh I just hit my 25th year anniversary.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, congratulations, by the way. That's a that's a really long career so far. And how long do you see yourself being chief?

SPEAKER_01:

As long as I am capable of positively contributing to the position and to the city and the department.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell What has been some of your biggest priorities since you became chief two years ago?

SPEAKER_01:

So initially, right out the gate, I had to restructure, reorganize, and pretty much develop a whole new command staff. That was one of the biggest things that I had to that I had to tackle right off the bat because the previous administration had uh retired. And fortunately, the untimely passing and the tragic death of uh Chief Diggs, who was instrumental in my leadership journey as well. So I'll just let a shout out to him. But uh yeah, a lot of the command staff was no longer around, so I had to kind of rebuild everything from scratch. So that uh that absorbed most of my time in the in the beginning.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I could see that because you came in and then you had retirements, you had no command staff at that point.

SPEAKER_01:

Nothing at that point. So I just once I once I knew I was applying for the position, I already started figuring out in my mind, starting, you know, jotting down some some rough drafts of uh what a new structure would look like, how best to uh develop the department to maximize its efficiency and effectiveness, and you know, kind of just uh try and see that to fruition.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Some of the challenges you face so far in these two years.

SPEAKER_01:

I like I've said in some of my interviews that being an internal candidate, I knew a lot of the the challenges, the strengths, the weaknesses, the areas to grow within the department. So I just wanted to make sure that I hit the ground running, which I felt I did. I did have a hundred-day plan in mind uh with the number of areas I want to uh ensure the department was off to a good start and carry the momentum that we had, a lot of the positive momentum, and see some, make some changes that I felt was necessary to move the department forward.

SPEAKER_00:

What are you most excited about and what are your initiatives that you have already put into place?

SPEAKER_01:

In future episodes, we'll definitely get into the fine details, but uh overall, I I always relate it back to uh some stuff that we are really good at here. We are really good at two things crime fighting and our community engagement, our community policing. And within those two areas, there's a host of, like I said, minute details, different units, different strategies, different tactics, the way we do stuff, the way we deploy our people. So those are two areas I wanted to really focus on and you know, audit, do we still want to do this stuff, or uh how do we want to improve it? How can we make it better? I'm always looking, you know, we've got like the FMPD 2.0 when I took over, and my goal is to make it FMPD 3.0. How can we get that much better and really modernize the agency?

SPEAKER_00:

Now you talked about modernizing. So let's go into what modernizing means, right? So what do you mean when you talk about modernizing?

SPEAKER_01:

So initially with modernizing, we're always talking about technology. Uh we're talking about upgrading, updating, maybe some uh some new looks to some stuff. Uh I see you got some old school.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, I had to bring it back old. I had to bring it back. So as you can see, we have come also a long way, not just because of our department building and our staffing, but also our cars. So all the way back from 1950, we still had that black and white look. We went, it looks like a little bit of blue in 1980, and then we had a beetle.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that Herbie the the Love Bug, right?

SPEAKER_00:

That that looks what yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Not sure if everybody's gonna know that, but Herbie the Love Bug.

SPEAKER_00:

I think most people, well, maybe, who knows? But yeah, and then we had a Crown Vex.

SPEAKER_01:

Crown Vex, that was that was my vehicle for most of my career. I love those things. Those are the tanks, they just they really held up. They held up really well.

SPEAKER_00:

So now this is our car, or is it? So, fun fact in 1938, the police department only had two vehicles.

SPEAKER_01:

Two vehicles.

SPEAKER_00:

So that showed our staffing back in 1938.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely. We've come a long way.

SPEAKER_00:

And as you said, modernizing and new looks. So, our new vehicles.

SPEAKER_01:

There's our new design, yes. I like it. It we've had the black and whites for when we're going through and kind of coming up with our designs. The the black and whites we had for probably about close to 20 years or two decades. So I felt there was a little bit of a change. I like incorporating the thin blue line into our vehicles. For those that don't know, the thin blue line is synonymous with law enforcement, and that thin blue line separates chaos from the calm. So that's us. We hold that line right there. So I think it's very important for everybody to know, and that to be a significant designator that we are there to hold that line.

SPEAKER_00:

And for people who don't know, why did we change the design and the color?

SPEAKER_01:

The design and color was more of a refresh, like I said, an updated design. There is also a cost savings with it. We don't have to send the vehicles out for additional painting. So they come right off the assembly line, ready to go. We can outfit it, we can get more vehicles on the road that much quicker. And a little more durability with those F-150s for the K9 units. They are super sturdy, rugged, uh, especially with the canines, because uh our canine unit does a lot of uh a lot of groundwork uh and they need that durability.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and I don't think people realize that our black and whites actually had to get repainted in order for the two-tone color. So the new design is actually way more cost effective because we don't have to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

Correct. Yeah, Ford didn't give us a uh a black and white off the assembly line. It was either black or white, and we had to get it painted, and that takes time. So this is just once again a little more efficient.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. And you didn't just modernize our look for our cars, did you?

SPEAKER_01:

No, no. For many years, I have always questioned why we live in a tropical environment. We live in Southwest Florida. Why don't we have more breathable uh uniforms? The one I'm wearing is the standard one, worn for my entire career. Still wear it because I'm doing office work now. But in the field, I think the the men and women that are doing the work on the road, answering the calls, they need to be as comfortable as possible. And if we can make a slight little change, like get in those uniforms to a lot more breathable, also take away the the gun belt that you carry everything on and kind of distribute that load a little bit, a little bit better between an outer carrier vest and the gun belt. It helps with, you know, maybe some back pain, a little more accessibility, because let's face it, as police has evolved, we've gained more and more equipment. So we've got to be able to have that real estate on our body to carry all that. So yeah, that was one of the first things I wanted to do is change our uniforms. And uh I I like the look. We've got a lot of positivity from it. I think people are happy, and uh, I'm glad I can make that happen right away.

SPEAKER_00:

The department definitely I I know the officers for sure like it, especially with the load bearing on that belt. As you can tell, I mean, look at everything they had to carry on their belts. So that definitely that outer carry vest was was a huge difference for them.

SPEAKER_01:

No doubt.

SPEAKER_00:

I have another fun fact for you.

SPEAKER_01:

Where is it? 1947. Police department was comprised of one chief, lieutenant, two sergeants, ten officers. Wow, 1947, nice.

SPEAKER_00:

Once again, tells you a lot about our staffing. We had two cars, and then in 10 more years after the two cars, then we got one chief, one lieutenant, two sergeants, and ten officers. So we grew just that much more in just 10 years. So how does FMPD look like in terms of staffing, division, and resources?

SPEAKER_01:

So uh staffing right now, I'm happy to say that we are close to being fully staffed and we are authorized for 263 officers. And that's complemented by close to 100 civilians. And our civilian staff is going to be dispatch, records clerks, staff assistants, uh crime scene, evidence tech, and a host of other supporting roles within the agency. Then I can't give enough shout outs to our civilian staff that help us, even PIO, that help us uh and able to help us able to do our jobs that much better on the road.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I I think people don't realize that like dispatch is also civilian. When you walk into the police department, you automatically come into contact with the records division, which is also civilian. So they their background, all of the stuff that they do helps the police department just keep moving. So and especially helps the residents, the public, because those are the people that you come into contact with almost first as soon as you call, you hear dispatcher. So I don't think people also realize that civilians do play such an important role behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_01:

We are a very proactive agency and we generate a lot of paperwork. And as the tech world advances, we we create a lot of dashboards and electronic paperwork. So uh somebody has to manage all that and and uh and and maintain all that. So shout out to the civilian staff to helping our men and women on the road.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Now, looking ahead to the future, what does the future have in store, Chief?

SPEAKER_01:

So the future is uh I'm gonna give a I'm gonna quote the mayor for a second. The the mayor, who's retired police officer from us, mayor Kevin Anderson, he says the future is so bright, you gotta wear shades. And he usually comes around with with a pair of sunglasses. So it is very bright for the FMPD, and uh, I'm happy to be seeing that and be a part of that. Uh, I have a tremendous uh supportive command staff that is helping facilitate us in all areas of the agency. One specific thing is the future headquarters, which is just a few blocks away from here, which we are super excited. We cannot get into it soon enough. It's gonna be state-of-the-art. I don't know how many times bigger than the agency, the department we're in right now, because this building is severely, uh we've severely outgrown this building. So that's going to provide all of the resources we need. We're incorporating a gun range. We have a huge community room, so that much more uh involved with the community to have them come in. We've got a nice area so we can do some outside press releases and press statements. We've got a full vehicle storage area because let's face it, the the weather down here is not real friendly to vehicles. So we're able to maintain our vehicles and the lifespan of them and keep them uh keep them on the road that much more, that much longer. So uh there's a there's a ton of other stuff that's gonna go into this. The technology area, all the room we need, say for like evidence, growing dispatch centers. So it's just gonna give us everything for hopefully what people have been saying is the next uh I'll knock on wood, 50 years.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean 50 years would definitely take us very far. Yes. I know obviously working here, we have multiple units in multiple different locations. They are not all in with within this building. So what would that mean to officers that will finally all be together in one building?

SPEAKER_01:

So right now we are very fragmented. We are all over the place. We got little mini substations all over the place. We're sharing buildings with other departments and stuff. So this will bring everybody together, which only increases our communication, our collaboration, all our crime fighting efforts. So it's just gonna help us out all around, which in turn then puts a better product out there or better service for the community in the city.

SPEAKER_00:

And where are we at in terms of the new building?

SPEAKER_01:

Still in the final stages of planning, budgeting, making sure we have everything set before we break ground. And hopefully the plan is to be breaking ground beginning of next year sometime.

SPEAKER_00:

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

unknown:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

So beyond the new headquarters, what's your future vision for the department?

SPEAKER_01:

Future vision for the department is to I'm gonna say we're really good, and I just want to get a little bit better, a little bit better. Just some some micro wins. We've got a lot of new units, divisions on the horizon, which we'll be talking about here in the coming podcasts. Let people know what we're doing to more, like I like going back to that customized police department, very customized response. As as the city evolves, as we get more growth down here, we want to be able to provide those services as best as we can. So just a real top-notch premier law enforcement agency.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect. Is there anything you would like to add before I mean the end of the our first episode? Is there anything you would like to include that I didn't about where we're at and where we're going?

SPEAKER_01:

I just want to obviously thank the the men and women uh that come to work every single day, do a tremendous job. Uh they stay motivated, they they handle themselves with the utmost professionalism. And by doing that, we're seeing reductions in crime in certain areas, if not most or all areas. And as a as our population has grown, we're actually seeing reductions in crime where most major cities would see an increase in population and an increase in crime. So for us to be doing the decrease in crime with the ink rates in population is just uh it's tremendous. And it's a huge uh uh huge kudos to everybody that comes in every single day and uh puts on the uniform, whatever uniform, and uh and just comes into and work hard.

SPEAKER_00:

I think that says a lot about our department. It's the perseverance, it's the resilience. And I mean, our staffing to be able to do that is incredible. So in order to keep the success, we keep our staffing.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, absolutely. Anyone around here knows that they wear probably uh more than one hat. But I think that speaks to our resilience and uh and how good we are. And I'm I'm happy to be here for uh I'm happy to have been here for the last 25 and probably won't make it another 25, but uh as close as I can.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh, I think you could do 25. I've seen you run the bridge. So I've seen you run with those recruits. So I think you can definitely make 25.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, they keep me young.

SPEAKER_00:

So thank you so much for joining me. Thank you so much for launching FMPD Roll Call. This is just the beginning. So stay tuned for sure on those new units, the work that we do. We're gonna dive deep. We're gonna talk about new initiatives, give you a background look, and thank you for joining us on FMPD Roll Call.

SPEAKER_01:

No problem. Thank you.