The applicants also include Lance Blanchette, who is the current interim chief with the Flagler Beach Police Department.
The number of applicants to serve as the next Flagler Beach police chief has been narrowed to six, including the current interim police chief and a former Bunnell police officer.
The city was still working on putting together a board of law enforcement professionals to conduct interviews with the “semi/finalist.” City Martin Dale Martin wrote previously that he will also interview the semi-finalists.
The published salary range for the job is $92,716 to $152,982.
The six remaining applicants were narrowed from a list of nearly 30.
Whoever is hired will succeed Matt Doughney, a former Daytona Beach police captain who served as police chief from 2013 until his retirement on Jan. 2. Doughney was earning $121,576 when he retired.
The department has 18 sworn law enforcement positions. Two positions are unfilled: an officer and the police chief.
Lance Blanchette, Flagler Beach
Lance Blanchette: Currently serving as the interim chief, Blanchette wrote that he has more than 32 years of experience in law enforcement, including serving as deputy chief of police for Flagler Beach for the past 7 ½ years. He said he has developed strong relationships in the community and understands its needs.
Blanchette began his career with the Daytona Beach Police Department in 1994 and rose through the ranks, becoming a captain in 2012. He retired from that department in 2018.
Blanchette also served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1990 to 1993. He teaches basic law enforcement at Daytona State College.
Blanchette also included reference letters praising his abilities from Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord, Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young, Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly and Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
Blanchette also has the unanimous support of the Flagler Beach Law Enforcement Police Union. Blanchette also received a strong letter of support from Melissa Parish, the city’s library director who wrote that he knows the community well.
Salary: $105,976.
Pedro ‘Pete’ Delgado, West Miami
Pedro “Pete” Delgado: Chief of the West Miami Police Department, where he has worked since 2001. Delgado previously was a detective, lieutenant, captain and deputy police chief with the department. He also worked as an officer with the Hialeah Police Department from 1995 to 2001, and before that, he was with the West Miami Police from 1991 to 1995. He also served as a military police officer in the U.S. Army. Delgado wrote that he is a part-time resident and homeowner in Flagler Beach.
He listed among his duties as police chief preparing the department’s budget and directing, planning and organizing all of the department’s crime prevention and law enforcement activities. He reviewed and updated emergency or disaster plans.
Delgado wrote in his cover letter: “I have had the privilege of working in every position in the police department. I have served in critical positions and have experienced day-to-day operations that have prepared me for the challenges that police chiefs face in today’s ever-changing environment.”
Salary: $150,000.
Edward Fingers Jr., Missouri
Edward Fingers Jr.: A watch commander with the St. Louis County Police Department in Missouri, where he has worked from December 1998 to present. Fingers is in the process of retiring from the department. He served as an academy instructor for police motorcycle operations, firearms instructor, and MACTAC strategies (Multiple Assault Counter Terrorism and Casualty). He worked as a Homeland Security officer with the U.S. Air Force-Civil Air Patrol. He listed tasks, such as “search and rescue of downed aircraft,” missing persons, and counter-drug reconnaissance. Police officer with the Valley Park Missouri Police Department from 1995 to 1998.
Fingers has worked as a homicide investigator with the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad from 2003 to 2008. Fingers was also a legal specialist with the U.S. Army from 1990 to 1995.
Fingers was also on protection details for regional visits by the president of the United States, presidential debates of 2004 and 2016, and the 1999 papal visit.
Fingers wrote that he and his wife are looking for opportunities in the “mid-coastal areas of Florida.”
Fingers wrote that he has visited the Daytona Beach area as part of his hobbies involving motorcycles and Jeeps. He has owned a number of Jeep vehicles, including a half-dozen or so Jeep Wranglers. And he wrote, “My motor of choice is a Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Ultra…it is my relaxation tool.”
Salary at last job: $113,000 per year.
Andrew Klopfer, Pennsylvania
Andrew Klopfer: Assistant special agent in charge with the FBI in Philadelphia since 2024. He has been with the FBI since 2012 in different roles, including as a legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada. He also previously worked at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. Before joining the FBI, he was a police officer in Connecticut. He has a law degree. Klopfer wrote that he was recruited into the FBI after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Klopfer wrote that he has “managed complex national security investigations while developing and mentoring others.” Klopfer wrote that he was also a “Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) operator and sniper, FBI firearms instructor, and FBI tactical instructor.”
Salary at FBI: $198,000 per year.
Anthony Raimondo, Florida
Anthony Raimondo: Executive director of development services with the city of Sanford from 2021 to present; deputy chief of the Sanford Police Department from 2017 to 2021 and a police captain with Sanford from 2012 to 2017. He was an officer with the Bunnell Police Department from 1996 to 1999. He served in the Marine Corps, where he was an infantry leader in Panama and Desert Shield/Storm.
He is a master instructor for Fair and Impartial LLC, “for fair and impartial policing.”
Current salary: $154,000.
Raimondo was also one of the first Sanford police officers to respond to the shooting on Feb. 26, 2012, of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, according to a Los Angeles Times story. Raimondo, a sergeant at the time, testified for the prosecution at the 2013 trial of shooter George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who was found not guilty by a jury in the fatal shooting of the unarmed Black teenager. The Black Lives Matter movement was formed after Zimmerman’s acquittal.
Raimondo described giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the teenager and asking a crowd for plastic wrap and vaseline to seal the bullet wound in the fatally wounded teen’s chest, according to the Los Angeles Times story. Another officer performed CPR.
“I breathed for Mr. Martin, or tried to,” Raimondo testified, according to the story.
He said he lifted Martin up to try to find an exit wound but couldn’t find it. Instead, Raimondo testified he found a soft drink the teen had recently purchased in the pocket of his hoodie, according to the Los Angeles Times story.
Raimondo said when paramedics pronounced the teenager dead, he covered the teen’s body with a blanket out of “respect for the deceased,” to preserve evidence and lessen the trauma to relatives who might come to the scene, the Times story stated.
Jeffrey VanAuken, New York
Jeffrey VanAuken: Retired major and troop commander with the New York State Police, where he worked from 1994 until 2023 in various roles, starting as a trooper. He was a commissioned officer in the Navy.
VanAuken wrote that after retiring from the New York State Police, he relocated to Florida. He added, “I’ve realized that I still have a desire to serve my community, especially as a law enforcement leader. “
He goes on to write: “I am a dependable, hard-working individual who will bring an enthusiastic and positive atmosphere to the organization.”
Salary when retired from New York State Police: $194,500.
