Media & Local Cops Say Fernandina Police Chief A Disaster

Fernandina Police Chief Jeffrey Tambasco is as popular among his cadre of city cops as paid parking, sea turtle soup, and lumberjacks are with city residents.

Tambasco, who took over the top cop reins from Mark Foxworthy October 2023 under the short-lived two-month tenure of City Manager Ty Ross, has been the topic of highly negative articles in both the local News Leader (July 16, 2021) and most recently Jacksonville’s FOLIO (August 20, 2025).

The 2021 front page News Leader article headlined “Deputy chief brings experience, baggage – Memo alleges poor leadership by Tambasco”, was written by former reporter Julia Roberts. It cited a history of reprimands, incidents, and investigations of Tambasco following his hiring as Fernandina’s deputy police chief in June 2021. The paper outlined what it described as a tumultuous 25-year career including “…..reprimands and reports questioning his leadership capacity.”

The recent FOLIO article is headlined “Law and Disorder in Fernandina with the subhead “Power Trips and Pink Slips: The Chief Who Dismantled Morale One Officer at a Time”. It’s a scathing indictment of Tambasco, his management style, and his tenure to date as Fernandina Chief of Police.

His 20-year stint with the Kissimmee, Florida Police Department came under harsh criticism, with FOLIO reporters, Ambar Ramirez and Carman Macri, citing a litany of negative incidents including accusations of him sending sexually suggestive emails and an unexplained demotion to a civilian position within the Kissimmee PD.

I recently read a catalog of grievances from current Fernandina police officers that paints a picture of discord, unrest and dissonance among the Fernandina PD ranks with local cops concluding that Chief Tambasco has created a culture of “bullying, favoritism and unrest.”

The FOLIO article prominently cited a December 18, 2024, letter the paper said it obtained through a public records request and sent to Fernandina’s Human Resources director by Lt. Tracey J. Hamilton. In the letter she accuses Tambasco and “members of his administration of creating a hostile workplace, abusing authority, and retaliating against employees who speak out.”

Based on the letter the FOLIO obtained reporters say Ms. Hamilton requested whistleblower protection status. The Folio reports that her letter cites several instances of abuse saying she feared retaliation by documenting her concerns. In her letter the FOLIO reports that she claims that the last four years have been “the most stressful time of my 24-year career.”

FOLIO reported that other officers suffering similar treatment say nothing out of fear. In the letter FOLIO reports she wrote: “Once he reads this my employment will be in jeopardy.”

The comments I reviewed from local police are in unanimous agreement with Ms. Hamilton. Police officers here are collectively saying they’ve lost confidence in Tambasco’s leadership and that the work environment is venomous.

For obvious reasons officers I spoke to and received information from requested anonymity.

They claim that 14 veteran officers have voluntarily left the force since February 2023. Most departures they claim are a result of the pervasive negative atmosphere created under Chief Tambasco. That’s almost 37 percent of a 38-person force hitting the bricks voluntarily.

Comparisons with police departments nearby are startling. For example in the same period of time Atlantic Beach has lost just seven officers from its 36-person force (19 percent) and JAX Beach just 15 from its 71-person force (21 percent).

Disgruntled officers hereabouts say that unless the current atmosphere of “The floggings will continue until morale improves!” attitude dramatically changes another wave of officers are preparing to bolt over the next few months.

One unhappy cop said law enforcement opportunities exist elsewhere claiming: “Sheriff deputies are circling and poaching.”

“This job is hard enough without all the crap that’s going on,” says another discontented local cop. “We used to rarely have openings, now we’ve lost 14 since Tambasco was put in charge.” He said one of the 14 was an officer but the rest weren’t.

“Tambasco can say anything he wants about the 14 that left, but he doesn’t have any exit interviews to support his case. We officers talk and we know exactly why others are making plans to leave if a change in leadership is not made,” he concluded.

Another equally distressed officer chimed in adding: “A workplace poisoned by favoritism and a toxic environment doesn’t just lower morale, it silences talent, breeds resentment, and turns potential into survival.”

Despite the negative articles, complaints by officers, and the loud grumblings from the force, Fernandina City Manager Sarah Campbell, told FOLIO that she still has confidence in Tambasco and “will continue to coach the chief as I do with all of our department directors.”

Based on the torrent of comments that I reviewed she’s got her work cut out for her as it’s going to take an impressive amount of coaching to improve the morale of what appears to be a deeply troubled and dispirited police department.

As one unhappy Fernandina police officer bleakly put it: “This work environment is toxic and needs an immediate change in leadership. Many employees are afraid to speak up because of what they have seen done to others who don’t ‘fall in line.’ I love the City and the citizens we serve. It’s the only reason I continue to work here and have not left for better environments. I just hope something is done before I can’t take it any longer.”

In the meantime, Chief Tambasco probably won’t be receiving any “Best Boss” coffee mugs from members of his police force.

***

Wait! What? “I do want people to know that just because someone has committed a crime, it doesn’t make them a criminal. That is completely different. Being a criminal is more-so about your mindset. Committing a crime can come for a lot of different reasons.”  — Jasmine Crockett, Democrat Representative, Dallas, Texas.

If  she didn’t display her ignorance and inhumanity loud enough with that insane comment she followed it up by belching that it “hurts her heart” that “only two Caucasians” joined her in the U.S. Congress voting against honoring Charlie Kirk. What were the folks in Dallas drinking when voting for this cretin?

***

Liberal-Conservative Contrast: My high school pal and American Spectator writer, Larry Thornberry, stated the obvious last Sunday writing to me and others saying: “As many of you may know, there’s a memorial service today for Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, AZ, where the NFL Arizona Cardinals play. I look in during commercial breaks in the Buc’s game. The stadium seats 63,400. There doesn’t seem to be an empty seat. Mostly they’re praying and singing songs, mostly hymns. So far no one has torched a single car or truck. And I haven’t heard the first gun shot.”

***

Democrats Accessories To Murder! Unhinged Democrats spewing anti-ICE (Immigration & Customs Enforcement) rhetoric and condemning the arrests and deportations of dangerous illegal immigrant criminals are inciting their mentally deranged followers to turn their hateful rhetoric into murderous action.

A suspect, who later died from a self-inflicted gunshot, fired shots at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility Wednesday (September 24) morning in Dallas, Texas, leaving “anti-ICE” messages on ammunition rounds, FBI officials said. He killed one person and wounded another. He did what the Democrat party encouraged him to do.

Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett most recently compared ICE agents to “slave patrols” during a Friday appearance on MSNBC, and she also made this claim during a Sept. 12 interview on “The Breakfast Club.”

Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that ICE is Trump’s “modern-day Gestapo” during a May 18 commencement speech at the University of Minnesota law school.

In May, Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez encouraged her party to storm ICE facilities and claimed that federal immigration officials are “breaking the law.” She has repeatedly called to abolish ICE and said in May that it is a “rogue agency that should not exist.”

While calling to “abolish” ICE, Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar cited a debunked story  which alleged that ICE agents held a 5-year-old autistic girl outside of her home in Massachusetts to “pressure” her father into surrendering. NBC News later issued a correction and acknowledged that it had “mischaracterized” ICE agents’ activities.

U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) called ICE a “terrorist force” in a July  social media post, drawing outrage from law enforcement supporters and immigration officials.

In a CNN interview with Brianna Keilar, Jayapal defended her Instagram post calling ICE a “terrorist force,” claiming that people of all legal statuses, even U.S. citizens, are now being abducted off the streets by masked agents without any clear oversight or accountability.

In response, acting ICE Director Todd M. Lyons called Jayapal’s comments “reckless” and “dangerous,” pointing out that ICE officers have faced a stark 700% surge in assaults, a spike that could be fueled by the rhetoric from politicians on the far left like Jayapal.

While promoting her book “107 Days”, cackling hen Kamala Harris, told The View that Trump was a Communist dictator.

The crazed leftist that shot Charlie Kirk spouted the same outrageous filth.

While Charlie Kirk’s mourners sang hymns and his widow forgave the killer, the Democrat playbook says to destroy what they oppose, silence those they hate, then cry oppression when consequences arrive. They mistake freedom of speech for freedom from consequences, believing their rage justifies any action while demanding immunity from judgment.

The list of unhinged Democrats is lengthy, and a continuous stream of vicious venom is spouted by these obsessed cretins daily. It’ll only end when their constituents wise up and defeat the haters at the ballot box.

***

Hysterical Harris: Internationally respected essayist, scholar, American Enterprise Institute fellow, and NYU Law School’s Classical Liberal Institute’s Tunku Varadarajan’s Wall Street Journal review of Kamala Harris’s book “107 Days” sums up her failed campaign in two short sentences saying: “Mrs. Harris’s book serves only to show how achingly dull she is. It also shows how disconnected she is from the many ordinary Americans who share her entrenched progressive values.” Stick a fork in her folks, this gal’s done.

***

Will There Be a Joe Biden Presidential Library? One Dem Donor Says No, “Unless It’s a Book-Mobile”.

***

Roll Out The Barrel: Two Octoberfest celebrations will be held the next two weeks with the first this Saturday, September 27 at PJD’s Beer & Wine Garden at 12 South Second Street, Fernandina Beach. There will be lots of German beer, a variety of food, and live music that will spill out into the street. The Oompa activities will run from 11 am until 5 pm. Unconfirmed rumors are that proprietor, PajamaDave, will perform tuba solos of “Das Lied der Deutschen” and “In München Steht Ein Hofbräuhaus”.

On Saturday, October 11 the American Legion Auxiliary in Fernandina Beach will conduct its annual Oktoberfest Dinner 5:00 pm -7:00 pm (unless sold out earlier). Dinner includes bratwurst, German potato salad, sauerkraut, spätzle (German pasta), roll and dessert for $18 per person. Credit cards are accepted, and the dinner is open to the public. To-go meals are also available. The “After Hours Duo” will perform 6:00 pm – 9:00 pm. The American Legion Post 54 is located at 626 S.3rd Street.