Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office
Department of Detention and Corrections

Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE)
– Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute

Lieutenant Debra Knighton
Hire Date: 10/20/2006

PINELLAS COUNTY – Today, May 24, 2024, Lieutenant Debra Knighton graduated from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Senior Leadership Program. The graduation took place at the FDLE headquarters in Tallahassee.

The graduating class consisted of 33 senior executives representing criminal justice agencies from across the state. The participants met for over a 10-month period and took classes on topics such as Risk Management, Trust-Based Leadership, and Futures Forecasting as it relates to criminal justice.

The goal of the Senior Leadership Program (SLP) is to provide a continuing education forum for the development of and refinement of leadership skills in Florida’s criminal justice professionals. Class participants studied the trends and events that will challenge criminal justice professionals and the state in the new millennium and examined the leadership skills necessary to create and lead the changes that lie ahead.

The Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute, established within the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and affiliated with the State University System, was established in 1990 by the Florida Legislature to address the need for an innovative and multi-faceted approach to the education and training of criminal justice professionals.

For further information on the program, contact the FDLE Office of Public Information at (850) 410-7001.

Below is a photo of Major Gerretz and Lieutenant Knighton