TDCI Promotes Experienced Law Enforcement Leader to Fill Crucial TLETA, POST Leadership Role
NASHVILLE – The Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurance (TDCI) announces the promotion of veteran team member Rafael “Ralph” Bello to the dual role of Director of the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy (TLETA) and Executive Secretary of the Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission (POST).
Mr. Bello has over 20 years of experience in law enforcement and law enforcement training, including serving as an instructor at TLETA and as a POST Commissioner. He has served as POST Assistant Director since 2022.
In his role as TLETA Director, Mr. Bello will oversee the instructors, coursework, and training at TLETA, Tennessee’s premier law enforcement training academy. Since its founding, over 24,250 officers have been trained at TLETA’s basic police recruit schools. So far in 2025, over 1,000 students have been trained in two basic police schools and 41 specialized schools
As POST Executive Secretary, Mr. Bello will advise members of POST on policy and training decisions, among other tasks. POST is a14-member regulatory body for Tennessee law enforcement agencies that develops and enforces standards for law enforcement agencies statewide. In addition to setting standards, the Commission certifies law enforcement training instructors, curricula, and specialized schools.
“Ralph’s policing experience, demonstrated commitment to customer service, and dedication to providing the highest quality training to Tennessee law enforcement made him the right candidate for this crucial role in overseeing the training of Tennessee’s future law enforcement officers,” said TDCI Commissioner Carter Lawrence. “I congratulate him and look forward to his leadership in the years ahead.”
A resident of Murfreesboro, Bello began his career in law enforcement in 2001 as a deputy sheriff for the Stanly County Sheriff’s Office in Ablemarle, NC. From 2005 to 2020, he served in the ranks of the Smyrna Police Department where he rose from police officer to field training officer to traffic crash reconstructionist to narcotics detective. He served a two-year term as a POST Commissioner from 2019 to 2021.
In 2020, Mr. Bello joined the TLETA/POST command staff, where he instructed TLETA cadets and conducted investigations on behalf of the POST Commission. Mr. Bello succeeds William “Chip” Kain, who was recently promoted to TDCI’s Deputy Commissioner, overseeing the department’s public safety portfolio.
“I want to thank Commissioner Lawrence and the entire TDCI leadership team for showing their faith in me by promoting me to this position,” Bello said. “I plan to continue building upon TLETA’s role as Tennessee's premier law enforcement training academy for law enforcement while fulfilling our Department’s mission of ‘Protecting Tennesseans, Empowering Professionals.’”
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