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Palm Bay, FL -- On April 2, 2026, Police Chief Mario Augello will walk out of the Palm Bay Police Department for the last time as its chief. He joined the department in 2000, a U.S. Army veteran looking for a second career in law enforcement. He retires 25 years later having served as patrol officer, crime suppression unit member, SWAT commander, Deputy Chief, and finally Chief of Police since April 2022. The city he policed has more than 150,000 residents spread across roughly 88 square miles. He leaves it in better shape than he found it.
City Manager Matthew Morton is overseeing the transition. The department will host a Change of Command ceremony on April 2, marking the formal transfer of authority to incoming Chief Jeff Spears.
The Record Under His Watch
Augello became Chief at a demanding moment. Palm Bay is the largest city on the Space Coast by land area and one of the fastest-growing cities in Florida. Demands on the department grew with the population.
Under his leadership, violent crime dropped 12 percent. He hired the department’s first dedicated mental health professional for officers. He built the department’s first on-site fitness center. Both reflect a consistent position he took on officer wellness: that it was not optional, and that ignoring it cost the department in ways that eventually showed up in the community.
He also founded the Palm Bay Blue Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that funds officer training, equipment, and wellness initiatives the city budget does not cover. The foundation operates independently and draws support from community and business partnerships. It continues to operate regardless of who holds the chief’s office.
Excelsior: The Highest Bar in Florida Law Enforcement
In November 2025, the Palm Bay Police Department received Excelsior Status from the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation (CFA). It is the highest recognition the CFA grants. An agency earns it by completing five consecutive three-year reaccreditation cycles without corrective actions or compliance failures. This was the second time PBPD earned the designation.
The CFA accreditation process evaluates every aspect of a department’s operations: policies, training, internal affairs, evidence handling, and community engagement. Passing once requires sustained institutional discipline. Reaching Excelsior for a second time means the department maintained that standard across 15 years of review cycles, through leadership changes, population growth, and shifting demands.
The city hosted a public celebration on November 20, 2025, to mark the achievement. It was one of Augello’s final major department milestones before his April retirement date.
Jeff Spears: Palm Bay Built This One Itself
The incoming chief is not an outside hire. Jeff Spears grew up in Palm Bay and graduated from Palm Bay High School. He joined the department’s Police Explorer program at 16. He enrolled at Eastern Florida State College for the police academy and started as a PBPD officer in 2010.
His promotion timeline reads like a department putting weight on someone who earned it. Sergeant in 2015. Lieutenant in 2020, serving as patrol watch commander and Public Information Officer. Commander in 2022, overseeing the Community Services, Uniform Services, and Support Services divisions. Deputy Chief in 2024. Now Chief.
Spears holds a bachelor’s degree from Barry University and a master’s degree in public administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.
The internal promotion matters beyond biography. Palm Bay has had rough patches with leadership continuity. Selecting a 16-year department veteran who started as a teenager walking alongside PBPD officers sends a message about institutional culture and long-term planning.
What He Leaves Behind
The Palm Bay Police Department handles a city that is geographically one of the largest in Florida and among the fastest-growing in the state. The department operates with specialty units including SWAT, an Underwater Recovery Team, Crisis Negotiations, canine officers, and traffic enforcement. It runs the V-Cop volunteer program and community resource units alongside standard patrol operations.
Augello inherited a department that had achieved Excelsior Status once. He leaves it having earned it twice, with a successor who has spent his entire adult career inside its ranks, and with a nonprofit foundation he built from scratch still running.
The City Council acknowledged his service at the March 5, 2026 regular council meeting, where members bid him farewell publicly. The formal transition happens April 2.
Sources
The Palm Bayer has covered the Palm Bay Police Department extensively, including the announcement of Chief Augello’s retirement in June 2025 and the promotion of Jeff Spears to Deputy Chief.
