Creation Of A New Police Department

Why I Chose The Miami Gardens Police Department?

This is a good question. When the opportunity to assist with building this agency came up, I was not searching for a career change and had little knowledge about the City of Miami Gardens. I was comfortable as a Lieutenant with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and felt that I would retire with the agency. This was soon to change after speaking with officials of the City.

I decided to check into the City, its form of government, their solvency as well as the people that I would soon be working for. This quest for information began at my computer (the internet is a great thing) with an in-depth perusal of the proposed budget for the yet-to-be formed police department, as well as the available information on the City’s history and their initial struggles. I found that the City of Miami Gardens was three years old and had recently been incorporated in 2003. I also discovered that there was, what I later felt, a reasonable budget proposed to form their own police department. For information on the City of Miami Gardens visit http://miamigardens-fl.gov/ .

From there my wife and I decided to take a tour of the city and to speak with a few residents. This tour of the city gave me a good feeling about the residents of Miami Gardens. The people that we spoke to seemed excited about having their own police department. The reoccurring message that I received was a sense of pride in the city along with a desire to have officers responding to their needs who were committed to the City, as opposed to a rotating group of officers who weren’t tied to the community.

I started to see this as a challenging opportunity to help build the newest police department in the State of Florida.

More entries later... In the meantime please visit the Miami Gardens Police Department web site at www.miamigardenspolice.org