New Kissimmee top cop Holland: ‘It’s been a long journey’

One of the best kept secrets in town became official this week, when the Kissimmee Police Department’s Betty Holland moved up from Deputy Chief and is now the department’s new Chief, and just the second woman to wear four stars on her KPD collar.

Outgoing Chief Jeff O’Dell, retiring from the role he'd held since 2016 after starting with KPD in January 2013 as Deputy Chief, won’t be going far. He will continue to work with the city on the transition team and serve as a new Kissimmee assistant city manager overseeing public safety and security.

In fact, he was on hand to swear Holland in at Tuesday’s City Commission meeting.

“He’ll be a resource of knowledge I can continue to tap into,” she said. “It’s been an overwhelming positive experience. I’m nervously excited. It’s my goal to keep the department moving forward and continuously improve. We need to continue training to keep up with what’s going on in the world today. We’re going to keep getting better.”

Holland, spent 30 years with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, starting as a dispatcher, and worked her way up to captain, experiencing nearly every major facet of law enforcement — telecommunications, uniform patrol, criminal investigations, strategic investigations, school resource officer, intelligence, special operations, and training. She came to Kissimmee in 2018 to become a deputy chief, a decision she and her then-teenage son made together.

“Back then I didn’t think I wanted to be chief, but deputy chief was a good goal to attain,” Holland said. “I’m glad Chief O’Dell brought me on.

“Recently, I watched how Chief O’Dell interacts and impacts the agency, I want to continue that same impact with the community. This community is very supportive of law enforcement and really embraces us, you can feel it from people.”

One of a small number of chief law enforcement officers in Central Florida, and the first in Kissimmee since Fran Iwanski retired from the post in 2012 after 25 years with KPD, Holland says she recognizes this opportunity to “empower young women” as an authority figure.

“I want to make it clear that, with tenacity and drive, they can be anything they want to be,” she said. “Women utilize our skills a little different than male officers, with that motherly instinct.”

Holland reflected this week on her journey from her middle school days, when her best friend’s father was a deputy sheriff — her first exposure to wanting to be a cop — to this week.

“It’s been a long journey, but I wouldn’t be here without the help of my peers,” she said. “I want to be here for a very long time, but I want to train those supervisors to eventually fill new roles.”

She said the best part of a law enforcement career is having a helping relationship with the community.

“Being on the street can be fun and scary at the same time,” Holland said. “But helping those people who can’t help themselves at their most trying times, that’s what’s most gratifying.”

City Manager Mike Steigerwald made the announcement of the appointment Friday. In a release, he said he's pleased to welcome Holland as the city's next Chief of Police, "One of the City’s most critical leadership positions."

“Her 35 years of law enforcement experience, including the past five as a key member of Chief O’Dell’s leadership team, have well positioned her to take our police department to the next level," he said. "Given the growth of our police force in recent years, I am especially excited about Chief Holland’s ideas for the continued development of our police force. I believe her prior experience leading the Polk County Sheriff’s training academy will be of great benefit in preparing future leaders within our agency.”