Six Strong Finalists Emerge in Search for Next Flagler Beach Police Chief, 3 With Local Ties

Six men averaging 29 years of experience in law enforcement between them are the shortlisted candidates for Flagler Beach police chief vying to succeed Matt Doughney, who retired last year after 12 years on the job. The candidates include Lance Blanchette, the deputy chief since 2018 and the acting chief since Doughney’s departure. 

Other than Blanchette, two of the shortlisted candidates have local ties. Anthony Raimondo started his law enforcement career as a Bunnell police officer between 1996 and 1999 before joining the Sanford Police Department, where he rose to deputy police chief before moving to the city administration. FBI agent Andrew Klopfer’s parents live in the heart of Flagler Beach and he’s considered it his home since 2003. 

Other candidates include West Miami Police Chief Pedro Delgado, St. Louis Police Sgt. Edward Fingers, and retired New York State Trooper Jeffrey VanAuken. 

The application window drew 28 applicants last fall. Following interviews, the pool was reduced to the current six. City Manager Dale Martin and his human resources staff are gathering a panel of law enforcement peers who will conduct interviews with the finalists before making a recommendation to the city manager. The hire is the manager’s decision, not the city commission’s. 

The Flagler Beach Police Department is a $3.2 million, 25-person operation, including 19 uniformed officers (11 officers, four sergeants, a lieutenant, a deputy chief, the chief, and a detective.) Several positions are unfilled, three are part-time. Doughney was earning $121,581 in his last year. Blanchette’s deputy chief salary is $106,000.

Here (below the chart) are brief sketches of each candidate, in alphabetical order. 

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Flagler Beach Police Chief Candidates Shortlist (2026)

The Candidates	Current job	Years in Law Enforcement
Lance Blanchette	Acting Flagler Beach Police Chief (Deputy Police Chief since 2018)	32
Pedro Delgado	West Miami Police Chief (Since July 2024)	34
Edward Fingers	Police officer/Sergeant, St. Louis Police Department	27
Andrew Klopfer	Assistant Special Agent in Charge, FBI, Philadelphia	27
Anthony Raimondo	Executive Director of Development Services, Sanford, Fla. (Former Sanford Deputy Police Chief)	25
Jeffrey VanAuken	Retired. Former New York State Trooper (retired as Troop Commander)	30

Click on each name for full cover letter, resume and application. The Flagler Beach administration redacted the applicants' addresses and phone numbers in accordance with a Florida law exempting the information from public record.

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Lance Blanchette joined the Flagler Beach Police Department as Doughney’s right hand in 2018 after spending 24 years at the Daytona Beach Police Department, from where Doughney had previously retired. He’s been managing day-to-day operations, including patrols and investigations. He’s an adjunct instructor at Daytona State College, he lives in Palm Coast, and was a member of the Coast Guard in the early 1990s. He highlights his “ progressively responsible law enforcement leadership,” suggesting that he would continue Doughney’s light-touch policing with a “commitment to modern, community-focused policing.” 

Blanchette has the endorsements of a few powerful voices in the community, among them Emergency Management Director  Jonathan Lord, who prizes cooperation and found it in his dealings with Blanchette, Flagler Sheriff Rick Staly (“I offer my highest and most enthusiastic recommendation for Deputy Chief Blanchette as I have seen his exceptional leadership qualities, unwavering integrity, and profound dedication to public service enhancing community relations”), Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young, and not least, Melissa Parish, the Flagler Beach library director: “As a member of the Management Team within the City, I can personally attest to his character and commitment,” she wrote. “Through countless challenges, he has proven his dedication to all that is right and true.” He had also won Doughney’s endorsement. Nevertheless he faces stiff competition.  

Pedro “Pete” Delgado: The West Miami police chief underscores his progressive policing credentials as well, and says in his cover letter that he’s continued to “engage in the national discussion on police and community relations, while maintaining and continuing the development of community policing and engagement efforts.” He emphasizes innovation through technology, teamwork and his management skills.  

“I have strong communication skills and I am experienced in crisis management,” he writes. “These qualities along with flexibility, inclusiveness and insight have prepared me well for this leadership position. I understand the importance of being responsive, being present, and being engaged with both the community and the department.” He started his career as a police officer in Hialeah. He has a master’s degree in public administration from Barry University. Delgado makes an appearance in this news clip from a Miami television station regarding a 2021 incident. 

Edward Fingers’s application language reflects a pronounced veneration for military dispositions: “A personal motivation towards leaderships positions (sic) has always been based in the success of the mission and the care and counsel of the men and women that serve,” he writes. “The honor of wearing the badge as a Police Officer is a symbol of the Public Trust,” again mentioning “the success and failure of the mission” in the next sentence. 

In the St. Louis County Police Department–which has had numerous challenges, including civil rights and discrimination lawsuits and the city’s own battle with the state over the department–he has been a watch commander and was a homicide investigator, at one point serving on details for the protection of the president. He helped raise large sums in fundraisers for first responders. 

He wouldn’t be the first police chief to seek a “transition” from retirement to police chief: it’s what Doughney did. Fingers underlines it: “As my wife and I look toward the next chapter in our lives, we are looking for those opportunities in the mid coastal areas of Florida. This opportunity would be a blessing, the timing would be surreal, as I have achieved retirement eligibility with my present department.”

Andrew Klopfer spent five years in municipal policing in Connecticut–including stints as a school resource officer, or SRO–before joining the FBI, where he’s been a legal attaché in a Canadian field office (he has a law degree) and served in leadership roles in others. But he doesn’t explain why he’d give up a nearly $200,000 salary as an assistant special agent in charge, overseeing 450 special agents, to move to Flagler Beach. His parents–his father is 86, his mother is 80–may have something to do with it, though employment in federal law enforcement these days may also be its own challenge. He currently works in the FBI’s sixth largest field office, overseeing counterintelligence, cyber national security and cyber criminal programs, according to his resume. 

He’s been awarded the FBI Medal of Excellence, has been frequently cited in official Department of Justice and FBI press releases for his role in coordinating major arrests and counterterrorism efforts, and was featured in an Intercept account in 2022 as an agent recruiting a man to be an informant. 

Anthony Raimundo grew up in Central Florida, got his associate degree from Daytona State College (1999) and master’s in criminal justice from UCF (2004). He was Student of the Year and was inducted into the Student Hall of Fame for leadership and academic excellence. He  knows Flagler Beach well from his younger years. He was with the Bunnell Police Department from 1996 to 1999. “I have long been intertwined with the fabric of this vibrant community. I understand firsthand the challenges and opportunities that come with policing a growing, diverse, and coastal community,” he wrote in his cover letter.

He then started making his way up the ranks at the Sanford Police Department, from officer to sergeant to captain to deputy police chief from 2017 to 2021, managing 150 employees and a $17 million budget (almost six times the size of the Flagler Beach police budget). He then jumped to the administrative side of the city as the executive director of development services, administering land use regulations, code enforcement and coordinating disaster responses. Of all the applicants, Raimundo alone has significant executive experience on both sides of a local government–law enforcement and administration. He makes the point in his cover letter. 

“Additionally,” he writes, “as a nationally recognized Master Trainer for Fair and Impartial Policing, LLC, I have led training programs for major agencies including the NYPD, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and Orlando. I am eager to bring these contemporary, evidence-based practices to Flagler Beach.”

Jeffrey VanAuken retired as a trooper from New York State after a 30-year career there and moved to Florida in 2023. “I understand the Flagler Beach Police Department is a small organization in comparison to my previous employer,” he writes, “but I believe my knowledge and experience can have a significant, positive impact on this department and Flagler Beach community.” He also spent 27 years in the military, specializing in military intelligence.

In his years as a troop commander, between 2021 and 2023, he oversaw a fleet of 200 cars and a staff of 400. He, too, retired with a salary approaching $200,000 (he’d started with a salary of $24,300). Letters of reference note his leadership and collaboration skills. Brent Dodge, the Johnson City police chief in a small New York town on the border with Pennsylvania, referred to VanAuken’s “good will.”