KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Starting this weekend, the city of Kissimmee will have a new police chief.
The city promoted Betty Holland as the new head of the police agency, it announced Friday.
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Holland, who was hired in 2018 as a deputy chief, has been part of Chief Jeff O’Dell’s leadership team for the last five years. O’Dell is staying on as assistant city manager over public safety and internal security and is expected to retire in the future.
Before Holland joined KPD, she spent 30 years with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, rising in the ranks from civilian status to law enforcement. In that time the agency said Holland gained experience in nearly every major facet of law enforcement, from uniform patrol to strategic investigations.
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She also led the Polk County sheriff’s training academy.
Holland will be formally sworn in as the city’s 29th police chief on Tuesday, May 2.
Holland will also be in a rare club in Central Florida as one of the region’s few female law enforcement chiefs. Ocoee and Tavares are two other cities in Central Florida where the current top cops are women.
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