Sheriff's Office captain retires after 36 years of service

Manatee County Sheriff’s Capt. Lorenzo Waiters took his first job in law enforcement at age 19 as a corrections officer at the Manatee County jail.

His second week on the job, inmates rioted and attempted to burn the building. Only three people, including Waiters, were on shift, and every patrolman on the street eventually was called for backup.

“After that time, I said, maybe I’ll go back to working at McDonald’s,” Waiters said, laughing.

But he stuck with law enforcement and in November 1979 transferred to patrol.

Waiters recently retired from the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office after 36 years with the department, including the past three years at the Lakewood Ranch and East County division.

His connection with law enforcement doesn’t end there. Both his sons, Lorenzo Jr. and Corey, have taken up the uniform, Lorenzo Jr. as a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office and Corey as an officer with the Bradenton Police Department.

Through tears, Sheriff Brad Steube, who once worked alongside Waiters in the narcotics unit, said at the Sept. 29 retirement ceremony that Waiters’ best quality is his attitude and his way of connecting with people.

“He’s a good listener,” Steube said. “Nothing gets him down. He took that to every agency. It’s difficult to find people like that.”

Waiters got his start in the Sheriff’s Office through its Cadet Explorer program, which would later give his sons their start in law enforcement.

Waiters joined the program when he was 15 and spent the next five years riding with deputies in a patrol car.

His dedication landed him a part-time job at the jail when he was 19. In November 1979, he transferred to patrol.

At the time, Waiters faced opposition from both the citizens he served and from within his department. Only one other black deputy was on patrol, and Waiters was the first black deputy who was assigned to work south of Manatee River. Waiters said that black deputies were usually assigned to work north, near Palmetto.

When he would arrive at a residence, at times he wouldn’t be allowed inside or be told that the residents wanted a white deputy.

He faced similar difficulty within his own department.

 “I’ll never forget this day,” he said. “I was walking in the office, and before I got to the break room, I heard a lieutenant say, ‘That (racial epithet) will never make it.’ I was fighting for acceptance at homes and within the Sheriff’s Office. That was my determination to make it.”

Waiters advanced through the ranks and served in many units during his 36 years, including narcotics, K9, community policing, crime prevention, crisis intervention and honor guard.

But serving on a community policing unit in Palmetto was one of Waiters’ most intense assignments.

At the time, there was a crack cocaine epidemic in the community.

“People were frightened and without proper police coverage,” Waiters remembered. “There wasn’t a day that we didn’t get in a pursuit or physical fight in the community.”

It took three years for the unit to see change.

“No matter what the problem in your community is, we can’t solve it without the community. That bridge has to be gapped — we have to come together.” – Lorenzo Waiters

The toughest lesson

At 19, Waiters got an unexpected lesson on one of the toughest parts of his job, delivering bad news. He had to inform people that a family member had died in a plane crash. 

“People think this uniform is bulletproof, that nothing hurts us,” he said. “It’s not true,”

Waiters was once on the receiving end of the tragic news. In 2008, he was on his way home when he received a call from a state trooper, who told Waiters to respond to an accident site. There, he learned his 17-year-old daughter, Brittany, a college-bound senior who was both an artist and a violinist, had been killed in a car crash.

Waiters had to bring his family together to tell them of Brittany’s death.

“I’ve learned from this,” Waiters said. “It’s made me a more patient person.”

Moving Forward

Waiters might be retiring from the Sheriff’s Office, but he thinks he still wants to work in law enforcement in some capacity.

“I still have a sense of community left in me,” he said. “I want to continue what I’ve started. I know I can make a change.”

His wife, Tashia Waiters, said Lorenzo will take time to get used to retirement.

“I told Lorenzo, now you are a regular citizen, how will you adjust?” she said. Even on the way to his retirement ceremony, when he saw people speeding on the interstate, he wanted to react, she said.

But Waiters is proud to watch his sons carry on his legacy.

“What has truly touched my heart is that my two sons have followed me in my career,” Waiters said at his ceremony. “Just always believe in yourself. Never give up.”