Brett Meade began his police career in 1982 with the DeLand, Florida, Police Department. Chief Meade served nearly 25 years with the Orange County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office, retiring as a patrol commander. He was appointed deputy chief of police for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Police Department in September 2014 and retired with the honorary rank of chief in October 2018.

In 2018, Chief Meade joined the National Policing Institute as a senior program manager and assisted law enforcement agencies nationwide in initiatives such as recruitment and retention, officer and staff wellness and safety, and crisis intervention training. Additionally, Chief Meade served as a subject matter expert on critical incident reviews of the Pulse nightclub shooting and the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Most recently, Chief Meade served as the chief of police for the Mount Dora, Florida, Police Department, retiring in June 2022. He currently serves as the law enforcement outreach coordinator for UCF RESTORES, which provides trauma therapy for military, first responders, and victims suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Chief Meade is a recognized expert in domestic terrorism specializing in the sovereign citizen movement. He has trained more than 7,000 personnel across the state of Florida on sovereign citizen encounters and was instrumental in obtaining legislation designed to protect public officials from paper terrorism tactics employed by sovereign citizens. He has served on the Central Florida Intelligence Exchange (Fusion Center) Executive Steering Committee; as well as other local, state, and national boards; and commanded the Criminal Intelligence Unit of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office for three years. He is a senior instructor for the Criminal Justice Executive Institute with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and has trained hundreds of supervisors, managers, and police executives nationwide.

Chief Meade is a graduate of the Southern Police Institute Command Officer’s Development Course, the Florida Criminal Justice Executive Institute Executive Future Studies Program, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, and the Florida Police Chiefs Association Future Law Enforcement Executive course. He earned an associate’s degree in Criminology from Daytona State College, a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice Administration from Columbia College, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Webster University, and a doctorate degree in Organizational Leadership from Northcentral University.