"Bob" Gualtieri[1] (born October 2, 1961) is an American law enforcement officer, lawyer, and politician who is serving as the 15th[a] sheriff of Pinellas County, Florida.

In March 2018, House Speaker Richard Corcoran appointed Gualtieri to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission, and Governor Scott named him Chairman.

[19] On October 7, 2011, Florida Governor Rick Scott announced his appointment of Gualtieri as Interim Sheriff of Pinellas County.

[20] On November 9, Gualtieri took the oath of office from Sixth Circuit Chief Judge J. Thomas McGrady at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center in Clearwater.

[37] His Democratic opponents were James McLynas, who previously ran under NPA against Gualtieri in 2016; and Eliseo Santana, an unsuccessful candidate for Pinellas School Board and Clearwater City Council, in 2016 and 2020 respectively.

[38] In May, the Working Families Party publicly denounced Gualtieri, claiming the community is not safe under his leadership, and launched a campaign seeking a resident to step up and challenge him in the November election.

[43] Following the primary, Daniel Nichanian of The Appeal called the Gualtieri-Santana matchup "the state's most consequential county-level election".

[58][59] In October, Gualtieri and State Attorney Bernie McCabe issued a memo to caution deputies how to deal with individual cases.

[75] Two candidates who have run against Gualtieri, Greg Pound and James McLynas, have alleged police abuse against them in retaliation of their challenges to unseat him.

[76][77] In a 2004 case preceding Gualtieri's return to the PCSO, local resident Greg Pound lost custody of his children after an incident in which a hybrid wolf dog attacked an infant at his home.

[79][80][33] At a 2012 campaign event, Pound was arrested for "trespassing" despite being invited as a candidate for sheriff, an incident in which he believed he was silenced for criticizing Gualtieri.

[88][86] McLynas persisted through his 2016 campaign; although he finished second to Gualtieri, following the results on the night of the election, he immediately pledged to run again in 2020.

[89] In a videotaped incident published in February 2020, McLynas encountered difficulties making a standard public records request; when the clerk refused service to him, she brought in six deputies to question him.

[99][100] Following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in February 2018, Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed Gualtieri that year to serve as the chair of the MSDHS Public Safety Commission.

[101][102] The commission was asked to analyze information from the shooting and other Florida mass violence incidents, and to provide recommendations.

[101] Among its recommendations were to provide assailant training for school personnel, bulletproof glass on classroom windows, and to arm teachers.

Peterson I would say had all the tools, had received the training and that was a situation where no matter what you did or what you gave that guy, he was just a coward who wasn’t going to act.

"[105][106] On July 20, 2018, Sheriff Gualtieri announced that his agency would not charge 47-year-old Michael Drejka for the shooting death of 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton in Clearwater the day before, in accordance with Florida's stand-your-ground law.

[111] Gualtieri's initial decision not to arrest Drejka sparked protests by community activists and received bipartisan criticism from Republicans and Democrats.

[118] Civil rights activist Al Sharpton made a stop at a Clearwater church, calling for Gualtieri to "lock him (Drejka) up, or give up your badge.

"[120] In December 2019, Daniel Nichanian of The Appeal wrote that Gualtieri's record will be on the 2020 ballot, citing the McGlockton case.

[121] Gualtieri reportedly sent an email to police chiefs on March 16, cautioning them to use "good judgment and decision-making" when determining whether to make an arrest, as the jail struggles with overcrowding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[123] However, James McLynas noted that the PCSO continued to make more arrests over minor non-violent offenses in the following days.

[122] In a Tampa Bay Times article published on March 17, Gualtieri asserted that "no inmates were in medical isolation or experiencing worrisome symptoms".

[123] On March 17, county officials announced that restaurants and other establishments in Pinellas must stop selling alcohol by 10 p.m. starting the following day.

[131] He criticized the national media for replaying a viral news clip of spring breakers packed on the beach earlier in the week, saying the problem did not reoccur in the following days, and criticized county leaders for caving into pressure to shut down the beaches, claiming such a closure would be a challenge for patrolling.