Meet Tommy
Sheriff Tommy Ford was appointed Sheriff of Bay County by Governor Rick Scott on August 1, 2016 and began a four year term of office in January 2017.
Sheriff Ford grew up in Port St. Joe, Florida and attended Gulf Coast Community College. He graduated in 1992 from the University of West Florida with a Bachelors of Art s in Accounting and Finance.
In 1992, Sheriff Ford began an eighteen year career with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement serving as Special Agent investigating violent crime, major drug crimes, public integrity issues and officer involved shootings. He served for eleven years on the FDLE Special Operations Team and as Team leader for two years. In 2003, he was promoted to the Resident Agent in Charge of the FDLE in Panama City's, supervising investigations in the six county 14th Judicial Circuit.
In 2009, he was hired by Sheriff Frank McKeithen at the Bay County Sheriff's Office serving as the Operations Commander and Chief Deputy. In 2014, Sheriff Ford graduated the 258th session of the FBI National Academy and received a Graduate Certificate in Criminal Justice Education from the University of Virginia. He was appointed by Governor Rick Scott in 2018 to serve on the Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission and currently serves as Chairman of the CJSTC. Sheriff Ford is the Co-Chair of the Northwest Florida Regional Domestic Security Task Force, and serves on the statewide Domestic Security Oversight Council. Sheriff Ford has served on Governor Desantis Public Safety Transition Committee and was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Statewide Opioid Task Force.