Rieser names deputy chief for Sarasota Police Department

Sarasota Police Chief Jim Rieser has announced his first major addition to his leadership team, promoting Rex Troche from captain to deputy chief.

Troche has worked for the Sarasota Police Department since 2002, according to a release. Troche has received several promotions during his time with the agency, advancing to sergeant in 2013, to lieutenant in 2017 and to captain in 2020. He has a master’s degree in emergency management from Saint Leo University. Troche is the first Hispanic officer within the SPD to achieve the ranks of captain and deputy chief.

In a statement, Rieser cited Troche’s commitment to Sarasota and the SPD’s community policing philosophy as part of the reason for the promotion. Troche, the son of a Chicago Police Department officer, said his early exposure to the profession helped guide him to a career in law enforcement. 

“I firmly believe in community policing because I was raised and grew up in community policing,” Troche said in the release.

The deputy chief position was vacated in December when former deputy chief Pat Robinson was named deputy city manager.

Rieser, named police chief last month following the resignation of Bernadette DiPino, said one of his first priorities is filling a number of vacant positions at the top of the organization. In addition to the deputy chief, Rieser said he would eventually be naming two captains, two lieutenants and two sergeants.

“I think when the community sees who these people are, they’re going to know what I know: that they are amazingly capable, hard workers, and they have the city of Sarasota, this profession — law enforcement, this institution — and the officers and the civilians at this agency at their heart,” Rieser said in a previous interview with the Sarasota Observer.