January 2026 briefing Primary Topic: Leadership vs. Management City: Suburban Boca Raton

As you approach the final years of a long law enforcement career—when the job has become familiar and the routines easier—you begin to take real stock of what you’re leaving behind. You notice the cracks that formed slowly over time: the problems that were tolerated, the opportunities missed, and the moments when you wish you had pushed harder or refused to accept, “This is just the way it’s always been.”

Those reflections can turn into regret—but only briefly. Because eventually you realize something far more important: some ships are simply too large to turn unless you’re standing at the helm.

During my 25 years with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, I tried to make a difference from where I stood. I pushed for stronger, scenario-based training. I called for leadership accountability. I advocated for better equipment, better preparation, and greater transparency. Too often, those efforts—like many well-intentioned ideas inside large bureaucracies—were buried under layers of apathy, politics, and comfort with the status quo.

On the last day I wore the uniform, I walked into headquarters to exchange my ID for a retired credential. My wife and children were waiting outside. When I stepped through those doors for the final time, I turned back and looked at that building—and I didn’t feel pride. I felt concern. Concern for the deputies still inside, doing their best to serve honorably in an organization that had stopped serving them. I thought about how much of what we call “success” in that agency has relied on luck—luck that nothing catastrophic has happened yet, luck that we’ve avoided tragedy despite the warning signs beneath the surface.

But luck isn’t leadership.
And hope is not a plan.

So how do you change something this large? How do you restore direction, purpose, and pride to an agency that has settled for “good enough”?

The answer is simple, even if the work is not. Someone has to stand up, take responsibility, and lead. Someone has to say, Here I am—send me.

That is why I am running for Sheriff.

This campaign is not about politics or personal ambition. It is about professional responsibility. It is about restoring the standards, discipline, and leadership that built this agency in the first place.

My plan to rebuild the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office rests on three foundational pillars: Professionalism, Transparency, and a Re-Energized Culture.

Professionalism is not a slogan—it is a standard. It means raising expectations at every rank and holding ourselves accountable to them. It means rebuilding pride in the badge by ensuring deputies are properly trained, well led, and fully supported. As Sheriff, I will overhaul training from the ground up—emphasizing realistic, scenario-based decision-making, officer wellness, and modern use-of-force education. Promotions will be based on merit, leadership ability, and character—not politics or favoritism. Discipline will be consistent, fair, and clearly explained, because accountability must apply equally to everyone who wears the uniform.

Transparency begins with visibility. The public deserves to know how their Sheriff’s Office operates, how their tax dollars are spent, and how concerns are addressed. Under my administration, budgets will be open, clear, and understandable. Access to public records and agency data will be faster and easier. We will hold regular district-level town halls so commanders answer directly to the communities they serve. Trust is built through openness, not press releases.

A Re-Energized Culture means restoring purpose inside the organization. Deputies should feel supported, heard, and proud of the work they do. Leadership should be present, engaged, and accountable—not distant or insulated. We will reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, push resources back to patrol and investigations, and refocus the agency on service, readiness, and professionalism. An agency that believes in its mission performs better for the community it protects.

Palm Beach County deserves a Sheriff who leads—not one who manages decline or protects the status quo.

This campaign is about readiness, leadership, and fixing what has been ignored—not politics.

Leadership is one of the most misunderstood words in modern organizations—especially in law enforcement.

Too often, leadership is confused with rank or title. Others mistake it for personality or behavior. The reality is this: there are plenty of people with rank who are not leaders, and plenty of leaders who hold no formal position at all. True leadership is not granted—it is recognized through clarity, accountability, and direction.

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked alongside many types of leaders. Some were highly effective, others well-intentioned but overwhelmed, and some simply absent. They all had strengths and weaknesses. But the most damaging leadership failure I’ve seen is when people inside an organization can’t answer a simple question:

Who is actually in charge?

In a healthy organization, that answer is obvious. Leadership does not require micromanagement, but it does require presence. People must know who sets direction, who is responsible, and who is accountable. Each layer of leadership must understand its role, authority, and responsibility determine who the leader of the agency is.

When leadership becomes unclear—when employees question whether leadership is aware of what’s happening, or whether anyone is truly steering the organization—the agency begins to hollow out from the inside. Confusion replaces confidence. Mistrust replaces pride. Initiative fades, and accountability erodes.

This is not just an internal issue—it affects service to the public.

As a candidate for Sheriff of Palm Beach County in 2028, my commitment is simple and direct: leadership at the top must be visible, decisive, and trusted. There must never be confusion about who leads this agency, what the expectations are, or why decisions are being made.

An agency without clear leadership will eventually fail its people—and when that happens, it fails the community it serves.

Palm Beach County deserves better. Our deputies deserve better. And our citizens deserve a Sheriff’s Office led with clarity, responsibility, and confidence.

 I’m Calling for a Leadership-First Approach to Reforming the Sheriff’s Office.  Palm Beach County doesn’t need another manager. It needs a leader. A real one. Someone who shows up, sets the tone, and lifts the agency from the front—not from behind a desk.

That’s why I’m releasing what I call the Unified Credos for Leadership in Modern Policing—a clear, five-point declaration of how I will lead the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office if elected Sheriff.

For too long, we’ve allowed bureaucracy to replace leadership. Titles have substituted for accountability, and permission-slip leadership has drained the culture of this agency. I’m not interested in managing decline—I’m committed to restoring standards, performance, and pride.

1. Mission-Driven Teams Win.
When a Sheriff leads with clarity and focus, the entire agency understands the mission—regardless of politics or outside noise. Professionalism starts with a clear mission and unwavering purpose.

2. Communication Earns Trust.
Open, honest communication with both the public and the rank-and-file turns accountability from a slogan into a standard. Transparency must be consistent and it must work both ways.

3. Culture Can’t Be Managed—It Must Be Re-Energized.
Tired agencies don’t produce results. Complacency must be challenged, good work must be recognized, and pride in the job must be restored. Culture doesn’t fix itself—it’s led back to life.

4. People Over Policy.
Policies don’t protect communities—well-trained, supported deputies do. Leadership grows when you invest in people, not just paperwork.

5. Command Presence Means Being Present.
Respect isn’t earned from behind a desk. Leadership must be visible, accountable, and willing to make hard calls. Presence matters—especially when it counts.

Leadership isn’t about rank. It’s about action. The public deserves deputies who are trained, trusted, and led with purpose. And deputies deserve leadership that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with them—not above them or behind them.

I’ve spent my career preparing for this mission—from patrol to narcotics to federal task force assignments. Now I’m stepping forward to restore professionalism, transparency, and a re-energized culture to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

 In law enforcement—and in many professions—we’re taught to prize “experience” above all else. The assumption is simple: more years automatically mean better performance. The truth is more complicated, and it matters deeply to the future of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Experience absolutely has value. But it is not the sole measure of leadership, and it is not the automatic proof of competence we sometimes pretend it is.

I served 25 years with PBSO, working patrol, major case investigations, the DEA Task Force, emergency response leadership, and agency-wide training. That experience matters—but it also taught me something important: a Sheriff’s job is not to manage an organization. A Sheriff’s job is to lead it.

When people ask how I can run against longtime administrators or chiefs, my answer is simple. I’m not running to manage PBSO. I’m running to lead PBSO. A Sheriff leads the mission and the culture. A Sheriff sets the standard. And a Sheriff hires the best experts to execute that mission at every level.

If experience alone were the answer, we wouldn’t be having the problems we’re seeing today. We wouldn’t be dealing with transparency issues inside the agency. Bureaucracy wouldn’t be bloated to the point that manpower and money are drained away from real policing. Training wouldn’t have been reduced to dangerous levels. Discipline wouldn’t be inconsistent or nonexistent. Professionalism wouldn’t have slipped to the point that I’ve been embarrassed by what I’ve seen and heard while wearing this uniform.

Is that the result of experience we’re supposed to admire?

My career hasn’t been defined just by time served. It’s been defined by professionalism, training, accountability, and ethical leadership. My rank and my experience taught me to care deeply about the deputies who wear this uniform and the citizens who depend on us.

As Sheriff, my responsibility is to restore pride, raise standards, and ensure deputies are properly trained, equipped, and supported—so they can protect this county with skill, confidence, and integrity.

Palm Beach County is ready for a modern, mission-driven Sheriff—not a caretaker of the status quo.

Experience matters. But experience alone doesn’t guarantee it’s been done right. Every great agency eventually needs fresh eyes and the passing of the torch. It’s time to move forward.

Public Safety, Patrol Readiness, and Community Protection
Beau Cisco | Candidate for Sheriff, Palm Beach County

Public Safety Problems Facing Boca Raton

Patrol Capacity Is Not Keeping Pace With Growth
Boca Raton continues to approve high-density residential and mixed-use development in already congested corridors. Population density, traffic volume, and call-for-service demand have steadily increased, yet patrol staffing levels and deployment models have not scaled at the same rate. From a law-enforcement perspective, this imbalance produces slower response times during peak hours, fewer proactive patrols in neighborhoods, and a growing dependence on reactive, call-to-call policing. Residents may not perceive this as an immediate safety crisis, but they feel the delays—and those delays are an early warning indicator of systemic strain.

Traffic Congestion Has Become a Public Safety Issue
Traffic in Boca Raton is no longer merely an inconvenience; it now directly affects public safety outcomes. Congested roadways slow emergency response, increase crash frequency, and contribute to road-rage and aggressive driving incidents. They also reduce patrol visibility and deterrence. When deputies spend excessive time navigating gridlock instead of engaging in proactive enforcement, crime prevention suffers. Traffic conditions must be treated as an operational factor in patrol deployment, not a separate quality-of-life complaint.

Quality-of-Life Crime Is Being Normalized
Retail theft, transient movement, nuisance activity, and low-level drug-related calls increasingly dominate patrol workloads. These are not the crimes that make headlines, but they are the crimes residents and business owners experience most frequently. When quality-of-life enforcement weakens, neighborhood confidence erodes, businesses lose trust in enforcement follow-through, and deputies become trapped in repetitive, unresolved calls. This is not a patrol failure—it reflects leadership decisions about staffing, prioritization, and problem-oriented policing.

Public Safety Is Often an Afterthought in Development Decisions
Major development projects routinely move forward without meaningful law-enforcement impact analysis. Patrol zone strain, traffic choke points, projected call volume increases, and emergency access routes are rarely discussed publicly before approvals are granted. Law enforcement is then left to “figure it out later,” absorbing the consequences without additional staffing or resources. Public safety should be part of the planning phase—not a post-construction problem.

Synagogue, Church, and Faith-Based Facility Security
Boca Raton has a large and active faith-based community, including synagogues, churches, and religious schools that draw significant weekly attendance. These facilities face unique security concerns due to predictable schedules, high congregant density, and national trends involving targeted threats. Many rely on limited private security or informal volunteer coordination, often without consistent law-enforcement integration. This gap creates uneven preparedness and places unnecessary risk on congregants and first responders.

Community Action Plan for Boca Raton

Patrol-First Staffing and Deployment
As Sheriff, I will ensure patrol staffing models are directly tied to population density, traffic volume, and call-for-service data specific to Boca Raton. Resources will be reallocated away from unnecessary administrative layers and returned to uniformed patrol presence where it has the greatest impact. Peak-hour patrol coverage will be aligned with Boca’s actual traffic and activity patterns so deputies are positioned where demand exists, not where legacy staffing charts dictate.

Law-Enforcement Impact Statements for Major Developments
Large-scale development projects affecting Boca Raton should require formal law-enforcement impact statements. These assessments must address projected increases in calls for service, traffic and emergency access implications, patrol staffing impacts, and coordination with fire and EMS response. This information should be public, measurable, and enforceable. Development should not proceed without a clear plan for how public safety will be maintained.

Traffic Enforcement as Crime Prevention
Traffic enforcement is not about revenue—it is about behavioral control and deterrence. My administration will reinforce targeted traffic enforcement during peak congestion periods, using crash data, citizen complaints, and known problem corridors to guide deployment. Aggressive driving, chronic speeding, and road-rage incidents will be treated as public safety risks, not minor nuisances. Consistent, visible enforcement reduces larger downstream problems.

Restoring Quality-of-Life Policing Through Problem Solving
Deputies must be empowered to address repeat nuisance locations and chronic quality-of-life issues through problem-oriented policing rather than endless call recycling. This includes coordinated efforts with code enforcement, mental-health providers, and city services—without turning deputies into social-service substitutes. Order and compassion are not opposites; they require structure, authority, and follow-through.

Faith-Based Security Coordination and Training
As Sheriff, I will strengthen coordination between PBSO and Boca Raton’s synagogues, churches, and religious schools. This includes standardized threat-assessment protocols, patrol familiarity with high-attendance services, and access to security training focused on behavioral threat recognition, emergency response, and coordination during critical incidents. Faith-based institutions should not be left to navigate security concerns in isolation.

Training That Matches Boca Raton’s Reality
Deputies assigned to Boca Raton must be trained for the environment they actually police. This includes high-density residential areas, mixed-use developments, large events, behavioral threat detection, and crowd dynamics. Training must reflect modern patrol realities—not outdated assumptions—so deputies are prepared to respond decisively and professionally.

Closing Commitment

Boca Raton remains a safe community because of professional deputies doing difficult work every day. My goal is not to change that identity, but to protect it as the city continues to grow.

Public safety must scale with development.
Patrol must be prioritized over bureaucracy.
And leadership must understand street-level realities before making policy decisions.

That is my commitment to Boca Raton—and to every community in Palm Beach County.