Deputy Chief James Nygaard began his employment with the Fort Pierce Police Department on April 7, 2008.  He retired as a Major with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office after serving more than 25 years with that agency.  He has a very broad base of operational and management experience in patrol, investigations, and administration.  His skill includes time spent as a hostage negotiator, SWAT operator, polygraph examiner, and a homicide and unusual death investigator.  In addition, Deputy Chief Nygaard’s experience encompasses investigation and supervision of major crimes, narcotics, child abuse investigations and forensic, commanding sub-station operation, managing muli-million dollar budgets and researching special projects.

Deputy Chief Nygaard, a Florida native, holds a Master of Business Administration with and emphasis in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. 

Deputy Chief Nygaard is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), International Association of Homicide Investigators (FBI), Florida Association of Hostage Negotiations (FAHN), Tri-County Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team (CISD), Florida Polygraph Association, Florida SWAT Association, Florida Benevolent Association (PBA) and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

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