Chris Padgett was born and raised in Jacksonville, Florida, and served as a deputy sheriff in Clay County. During his tenure, he worked in Patrol, Operation Safe Streets (focused on violent crimes), and as a detective in Burglary, Special Victims, and Robbery/Homicide. He also served in Community Affairs, on SWAT, and concluded his career on the sheriff’s staff as Public Information Officer, retiring early in 2019.

After leaving the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Chris relocated to Colorado with his family and currently serves as the Public Information Officer for the Loveland Police Department. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Vincennes University, is a graduate of SniperCraft, and has completed numerous courses through FBI-LEEDA, including their first Master Public Information Officer course in 2018. He is also affiliated with the Southern Police Institute and is a PIO member of the IACP. Chris has presented hundreds of times on a variety of topics, including PIO Best Practices at the FLPIOA conference in St. Augustine, Florida—2019.