Funeral Services For Former VSO Chief Deputy

Daytona Beach, FL – Funeral services for Leonard Davis, a former Chief Deputy of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, will take place on Saturday, November 20, at 11 a.m. at Wayne Sanborn Center, 815 S. Alabama Ave., DeLand. Doors open at 10 a.m. The Volusia Sheriff’s Office Honor Guard will be posting the doors to the Sanborn Center prior to the viewing and throughout the services. Upon completion there, the team will relocate to DeLand Memorial Gardens for interment services. Professional Services are entrusted to Cusack Mortuary. Visitation will be held Friday, November 19, 2021, at Saint Annis Primitive Baptist Church, 502 S. Orange Ave., DeLand:  Public Viewing: 5 to 6 p.m. Wake: 6 to 7 p.m. Sheriff Mike Chitwood posted a remembrance of Davis to his Facebook page: Leonard Davis, the former Chief Deputy of the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office who spent 28 years serving this agency and community, passed away recently. Davis started his law enforcement career as a 21-year-old deputy working for Sheriff Ed Duff in 1972. He attended the 143rd session of the FBI National Academy in 1985 and by 1989, he had worked his way up to an assignment as commander of the Sheriff’s Office Law Enforcement Services Division. In 1997, he was named Chief Deputy under Sheriff Bob Vogel. When Sheriff Vogel announced he was not running for another term, Davis resigned as Chief Deputy to run for Sheriff in a crowded field during the 2000 election. While the election didn’t go his way, his legacy of honorable service to Volusia County was already as solid as they come. In addition to his leadership of the agency, Chief Deputy Davis was well known for creating the 100 Deputies/100 Kids charity program that brought happiness to so many families during the holidays. He also made important contributions to our profession as a high-ranking African American law enforcement officer in a position of leadership. He studied the challenges in recruiting, hiring, and retaining minority deputies, and in increasing the number of minority leaders at the highest ranks of law enforcement agencies. For those young men and women, Chief Deputy Davis’ work included a list of suggestions for success. Today, as we honor his distinguished career and his life of service, I want to share Chief Deputy Davis’ words of advice exactly as he wrote them in 1994: 1) Be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they occur. Education and career development training are the keys to successful careers in law enforcement. 2) Be prepared to make sacrifices. Pursue career enhancement opportunities vigorously. Many careers have been sidetracked because recreational activities interfered with career development. 3) Do not expect to gain any advantages based on your minority status. Expect and demand to be treated equally. Race, gender, or ethnicity are not excuses to settle for mediocrity. 4) Do not allow negative influences to burden you with negativity. Associate with individuals who are positive, optimistic, and enthusiastic about their work. 5) Give 100% at all times. Put forth your best effort even when the return on the investment is less than the energy expended. Service is the key to success. 6) Endeavor to persevere. Don’t ever give up or sell yourself short. Remember the cliché: “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” The Volusia Sheriff’s Office sends its sincere condolences to the family and many friends of Leonard Davis, and we are grateful for his years of selfless service to our agency and our community.