Sheriff puts training chief in charge of jails

TAMPA -- Sheriff David Gee has chosen Jim Previtera, the former head of training for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, to be the county's new jails chief.

Previtera, at right, who joined the Sheriff's Office in 2005, has been promoted to colonel and will replace Col. David Parrish, who retired last week.

Previtera came to HCSO from the U.S. Secret Service, where he worked for eight years and served as an agent in the vice presidential protection division and was a member of the training staff in Beltsville, Md. Previtera began his law enforcement career in 1986 as a deputy with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.

He holds a bachelor of arts in criminology from Saint Leo College and is a graduate of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service James J. Rowley Training Center and the U.S.D.A. Leadership Training Course.

Rebecca Catalanello, Times staff writer

*