The rumors are flying — once again — North Miami Beach City Manager Arthur “Duke” Sorey is trying to get rid of Police Chief Richard Rand.
Even worse, we hear that he wants to replace the best Police Chief in all of South Florida with — drum roll, please — none other than the corrupt and disgraced former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel.
This is the very same ex-Broward Sheriff who was removed from office after the horrific Parkland massacre, which “might never have happened had Broward had better leadership in the sheriff’s department,” according to Governor Ron DeSantis.
The Sun-Sentinel also reported, “In his executive order, the governor cited Israel for incompetence and neglect of duty. DeSantis said Israel ‘egregiously failed in his duties’ by not properly training deputies and not maintaining ‘a culture of vigilance and thoroughness,’ among other weaknesses.”
And this is the hot mess that Duke wants running the North Miami Beach Police Department!
Water truly does seek its own level.
Once again, the corrupt regime is attempting to blame Mayor Anthony DeFillipo for the mess they are creating, but he’s not having any of it. Last night, he sent an email to Duke praising Chief Rand and denying all responsibility for another impending disaster.
And once again, Jewish community activist Alan Sakowitz is stepping in to prevent that from happening.
Apparently, Duke Sorey doesn’t learn his lessons easily.
But, we’ll let Mr. Sakowitz tell you in his own words, which he sent out in his newsletter, and for which he gave us permission to reprint here.
Thank you, Mr. Sakowitz, for putting public safety before politics!
North Miami Beach residents can also take action by contacting Duke Sorey, either by phone (305-948-2900), fax (305-957-3602), or email (arthur.sorey@citynmb.com), and letting him know that Scott Israel is persona non grata in YOUR Police Department and demanding that he stop screwing with Chief Richard Rand!
Stephanie
How Important Is The Safety And Security Of The Residents Of The City Of North Miami Beach?
What’s more important safety or politics? Soon we will find out. More than 50 years ago the voters of Miami-Dade County voted to make the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s office an appointed position after a grand jury found it was infested with so much corruption that it was essentially a criminal enterprise.
Two years ago, the citizens voted to make the Sheriff’s office an elected position again. Ordinarily that would not affect our community one way or another. That is, unless a candidate or his “strategic political consultant” felt being the Chief of Police of North Miami Beach would be a great stepping stone to being elected the next Sheriff of Miami-Dade County in 2024.
All the rumblings on the street is about Scott Israel wanting to be the Chief of Police of North Miami Beach so it will be helpful for him in running for the Sheriff of Miami-Dade County. No thank you Scott. The City of North Miami Beach has an amazing Chief of Police and from what I hear, the City Manager, the Mayor and the Commissioners support Chief Richard Rand. Word is Scott’s “strategic political consultant” Mitch Edelstein is setting up meetings with key city officials to try to have Scott Israel replace Chief Richard Rand.
Maybe they are just words I am hearing. But words are important. Of all people, Scott Israel should know that words are important. When he was the Sheriff of Broward county, he changed one word in the Broward Sheriff’s written policy manual which allowed his deputies to stay safely outside while students were being killed by an active shooter in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglass High Public School rather than enter, engage the active shooter and eliminate him. Fortunately, Coral Springs police officers had the courage to enter the building and put themselves in harms way to save the lives of students and teachers while three of former Sheriff Scott’s officers remained safety outside.
Scott Israel changed the active shooter policy from deputies “shall” go in after an active shooter to “may” go in after an active shooter. With that change, the officer hiding behind is car and the two others remaining outside rather than entering the school and engaging the shooter were not violating office policy.
The City of North Miami Beach has a top police department where its officers are well trained and have the courage to engage those who stand to harm the public because its Chief and a line of former Chiefs highly train their officers and provide leadership aimed at protecting the public and its officers.
So no thank Scott and Mitch. From what I hear, you may be getting key meetings, but no one is ready to choose politics over safety and security of the residents and officers of the City of North Miami Beach.
Alan Sakowitz
Thank you as always, Stephanie, for your superb reporting. Unfortunately, the first thing a corrupt government does is destroy all ethical upper level staff and this is almost always two-prong: first, it sends a strong message to the city that THERE’S A NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Got any Problems? F-you, we know where you live.
Alternatively, what corrupt government can continue to destroy its residents and thus continue its downward spiral of corruption if there’s a possibility that someone on the inside may actually display Good Work Ethics and Honesty which in itself acts as an eye-opener for asleep at the wheel taxpayers. Also, of course, is the possibility of GWE and Honest employee becoming a whistleblower.
It happened over here in one of the cities in Sarasota County: full-blown wipe-out of all upper level ethical staff – you don’t even want to know how lives were destroyed during the cleansing. All historical knowledge of the city’s workings – GONE. All staff outreach to residents – GONE.
Again, Stephanie, thanks for your diligent work.
You just described the recent history of North Miami Beach government. As soon the corrupt elected officials got a majority vote, they proceeded to dismantle all vestiges of ethical work practices and transparency. They hired an even more corrupt city manager, who in turn fired all the honest and ethical employees and hired his fellow corrupt cronies. Duke Sorey is a tyrant to work under, so the ones who weren’t outright fired got the hell out of dodge to and went to greener pastures.
NMB is being run by the most unethical and ignorant group of miscreants ever gathered under one roof, and who can’t blow through taxpayer money fast enough. Pirates have literally taken over the city. And if you hold them accountable for their actions, YOU’RE the racist. LOL!