Candidate: Marco Lopez

Fellow voters,

I hope you are doing well and coping as best you can during the pandemic.  This will eventually come to an end and we as a community, can work together to overcome the new challenges it brings.

I was born in Chicago and raised here in Central Florida. I am a proud father of three healthy children, two of which are UCF graduates.  I originally joined the US military when I was only 17 years old and completed a total of 22 years of service. One of my primary drivers for joining the military was the inspirational leadership exhibited by my grandfather who gallantly served during World War I.

During my military service, my primary occupational specialty was 9545, a linguist with proficiency in English, Spanish and Portuguese. While serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, our unit provided security for both military and civilians in convoys. I was specifically tasked with assisting the South Koreans, Japanese and Taiwanese military troops that were entering the middle east and transitioning to Baghdad Iraq.  In addition to the various trainings available during combat, I became explosive ordinance certified, certified in counter terrorism and supervised logistical operations both during combat and peacetime.

After leaving active duty and serving in the reserves, I became a Sheriff’s Deputy right here in Osceola County.  I obtained the rank of Sergeant and worked in various specialized units, including but not limited to narcotics, sex crimes and other types of crimes that required extensive criminal investigations.  During my tenure with the Sheriff's office, I became a field training officer and a firearms and defensive tactics instructor.

After the current Sheriff terminated my employment after I declared my candidacy, I became a small business owner of a security consulting company. We specialize in active shooter training, counter terrorism and securing the work place not only from active shooters, but domestic violence and disgruntled employee issues as well.  In addition, we provide administrative revision of security related policies, procedures, disaster planning and have recently included cybersecurity training enforcement.

My combined military, law enforcement, and small business ownership experience uniquely qualifiy me as the best candidate for Sheriff to service our growing and diverse community. 

We must transition from reactive policing to the new counter terrorism, intelligence based era of policing to keep our communities and schools safer.  I have a long history of being well rounded with a "think outside of the box mentality" to accomplish the mission.

Last but certainly not least, I want to treat all deputies fairly and with the utmost respect they deserve.  Recruitment, retention, fair discipline and professional development will be the cornerstone of my administration.

Without your vote, none of the goals can be accomplished. 

Together, our community is safer.

More Policing, Less Politicking...Marco Lopez