Congratulations to our North Miami Beach Police Department on receiving this prestigious award!
Stephanie Kienzle
North Miami Beach Police Department awarded CFA Excelsior status
Friday, July 05, 2013 at 2:50 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Larry Gomer – Chief of Police July 3, 2013
Contacts: Kathy Katerman – Police Major
(305) 948-2940
E-mail: Kathy.katerman@nmbpd.org
North Miami Beach Police Department awarded CFA Excelsior status
In April 2013, the North Miami Beach Police Department underwent an extensive independent inspection of all departmental policies and procedures to include: written documentation, personnel interviews, agency operations, and facility inspections to ensure compliance with the accreditation standards set forth by The Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. (CFA).
On June 27, 2013, the CFA Commission met in Bonita Springs, FL to review several criminal justice agencies for initial accreditation, reaccreditation, or Excelsior status. The North Miami Beach Police Department was awarded Excelsior status by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. (CFA), making it the first law enforcement agency in Miami-Dade County to achieve this prestigious award and one of only twenty-two law enforcement agencies in the State of Florida.
Excelsior status is the highest recognition for continued excellence in law enforcement accreditation. This award recognizes agencies that have maintained a long and successful review of their policies and procedures. It takes approximately 17 years to achieve this recognition. For a Florida law enforcement agency to achieve Excelsior status, the agency must have received initial accreditation through the Commission and followed by five (5) successful reaccreditation assessments without conditions.
Chief Larry Gomer accepted the Excelsior award on behalf of each member of the North Miami Beach Police Department. “Achieving and maintaining accredited status proves the men and women of the North Miami Beach Police Department meets the highest level of professionalism and it is my continued goal to strive to maintain this status” said Chief Gomer.
The North Miami Beach Police Department was initially accredited by the Commission for Florida Law Enforcement Accreditation, Inc. on October 8, 1997. Since that date we have maintained our accredited status by being assessed every three years.
So, is council going to continue to tear down our police department in the contract negotiations?
Unfortunately Ms. Kimball, one thing has nothing to do with the other. Negotiating the contracts is a prudent thing to do these days when the city’s pensions are suffering and that’s putting it mildly. I’m sure that if this city council ever gets pension reform moving the PD will still be compensated competitively, fairly and be sustainable by the tax payers of the city. Our PD is doing a great job and will only be able to serve the citizens better when the residents can afford more officers to fill the gap of what was taken away. It is my understanding that will happen when money is saved in the way of pension reform.
The officers have acknowledged that pension reform is needed to sustain positive growth to the city in the form of financial savings. A year ago or more the city paid thousands to a pension attorney to come up with a pension plan that was fair to all. The officers were against the plan initially since I think anyone would be since it goes against what the city promised to the officers upon taking a job with the city. We have changed our stance and agreed to the changes that the city’s pension attorney presented. When we advised the city through negotiations that we agree to the changes they changed their mind and demanded more from the pension. So basically pension reform could have been accomplished by now and the city used tax payer funds to pay a pension attorney and wasted that money since they changed their mind upon us agreeing to the changes. If you can explain how thats progress, the floor is yours. Now the city is in a position where they can temporarily impose pension changes, which the pension board won’t recognize, hence years of litigation and lawsuits. Again, coming from taxpayer money. If the city wins, it is what it is and officer recruitment will be worse that it is now for the city. If the officers win, the financial chaos that this city will be faced with will be huge (backpay to the officers that have retired and a HUGE contribution to make the pension funds whole again). The taxpayers have to foot that bill and it’s not fair to you or the officers on this approach, especially since they’ve already used your money to have a new pension plan model.
Now as far as CALEA goes, it looks good on paper but its a waste of time and money. It’s like buying a really old house and throwing a fresh coat of paint on it. It may look good from the outside but the inside is beat up and needs more renovation than it’s worth.