By Fallan Patterson
Staff Writer

Outgoing Kissimmee Police Chief Fran Iwanski originally wanted the prestige of being an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy, highly coveted in the mid-1980s, before discovering Kissimmee.

Iwanski will retire Oct. 1 after 25 years with the department. She was one of four women on the force when she was hired by former chief Frank Ross under the suggestion of Ross’ wife, Lucy, who conducted Iwanski’s fingerprinting for the Orange County Sheriff’s hiring process.

“We took a ride and I thought we were going to Miami, it took so long,” she said of driving Orange Blossom Trail from Orlando to Kissimmee prior to other highways being built.

Standing in front of the old police station, Iwanski was reluctant to join a police force in such a small town.

“The more I got to looking around, the more I thought it had some interesting parts,” she said.

Initially applying to Kissimmee to gain experience before reapplying to Orange County, Iwanski was promoted after a year and began working on sex crime investigations.

“I just fell in love with the whole place,” she said.

Her love for law enforcement was ingrained at a young age when her father, whom she described as a “cop groupie,” began a friendship with a police officer in her Buffalo, N.Y. neighborhood.

“My dad couldn’t become a cop because he had six children and in his era of working, I bet police officers didn’t make $2,000 a year,” she said. “I would watch (my dad and the neighbor) talk and I would see the excitement in my dad’s eyes. It stood with me.”

As she moved through the ranks – sergeant, captain, police chief – Iwanski worked in each department of the force.

“There’s not one division in this agency I haven’t touched. That’s in a lot of ways, unheard of,” she said. “I’ve always been in supervision. I’ve only been on the road one year in my 25-year career. I’ve always been responsible for other people.”

It’s in those supervisory roles Iwanski has proven herself to Kissimmee, Mayor Jim Swan said.

“She’s made a big difference. She has been a real enthusiastic supporter of community involvement,” Swan said, specifically targeting her “See It, Say It” campaign, which encourages residents to report suspicious behavior. “Her enthusiasm for protecting both businesses and the community is just over the top. She’s like the Energizer Bunny; she gets fired up about it.”

While she said she has no regrets, Iwanski faced her first written reprimand in 25 years with the police department last month after Kissimmee City Manager Mike Steigerwald found she mishandled an investigation of James Napier, who was demoted from captain as a result of the investigation.

“I wish that incident had never happened. When you’re the chief, you’re ultimately responsible for everything. Do I wish the timing were different? Yes,” she said. “I felt bad my children had to see that. My kids, that hurt them.”

Napier, who is employed part time with Iwanski’s driving safety course business, hasn’t worked in that capacity in months because she is disappointed in his behavior.

“James erred in his life. The fallout, his family, you can never, ever fix that family,” Iwanski said. “I’m disappointed in him because I don’t hire people with no character. I told him ‘I’m going to pull a hit for you in my career.’”

With that incident behind her as “a lesson for the future,” Iwanski advised the newly hired chief Lee Massie, who starts with the department Oct. 1, to keep a strong bond with the community.

“We can only police as much as they allow us to,” she said. “He needs to be relentless in reminding them they want to be crime-free and involving them in what you do.”

Steigerwald sees Iwanski’s greatest achievement as her investment in policing the city, particularly in the year-old Community Relations Bicycle Squad that monitors the city in a more approachable way.

“I have been most impressed with Fran’s ability to adjust the department’s services with the needs in the community,” he said. “It’s what government services is all about.”

Iwanski is grateful for serving 25 years on the force but has waited 12 years to retire at a “reasonable” age to pursue her true calling: saving lives through her defensive driving course business.

“When I walk through this door the final time one day, I’ll be so blessed because I found out who I really am,” she said.

Iwanski, along with her husband, Greg, opened the Orange Osceola Safety Institute of Central Florida on Vine Street in Kissimmee in 2000 after years of the chief being haunted by a motorcycle accident she responded to as a patrol officer in 1988.

Iwanski was called to a head-on collision between a truck and the motorcycle on what is now John Young Parkway. The truck driver, who was later determined to be drunk, killed a 19-year-old man on a motorcycle on his way home.

Tasked with making a death notification to the man’s mother, Iwanski was “panicked” as she drove down his street, immediately identifying his house: all available lights were blazing from the home in the pre-dawn hours and the garage door was open.

“This mother said to me ‘Please bring him home’ and I said ‘I can’t,’” Iwanski recalled. “I was paralyzed. I don’t even remember the drive (to the hospital).”

It was watching the mother beg her son to wake up while the mother identified his body that stuck with Iwanski.

“From that moment, it drove me into Orange/ Osceola,” she said. “Driving is huge. You don’t like your ticket but I have 41,000 families who would change spots with you,” she said. “I probably saved more lives in this county (with the driving course program) than I ever did wearing this uniform.”

A motorcyclist herself, Iwanski started a motorcycle-training course in 2006 and is proud that in six years, only one of her graduates has died in a motorcycle accident.

“Every aspect of what I do is about keeping people safe,” she said. “We teach beyond driving. Sometimes it’s about who you are because your emotions drive you.”

Besides building her business, Iwanski has political aspirations although she hasn’t defined what position she wants to run for yet. For now, she’ll spend more time with her three daughters and four grandchildren.

“I’ve wondered if I was mom enough because I was so busy but my girls are great,” she said. “I love what I do but it wasn’t all my life. Even though I spent a lot of time developing this career, it didn’t make me. It wasn’t Fran Iwanski: the cop.”