December 12, 2007
The City of Miami
Gardens Police Department has worked long and hard
to be ready for the first day we provide service to
the community. When the first sergeant was hired in
June of 2007, the pace was set to hire, train and
deploy the officers to serving the City of Miami
Gardens.
Since that day in June, 23 Sergeants, 122 Officers,
10 Community Service Aides and a civilian support
staff of 34 have been hired to compliment the
command staff of a Chief, Deputy Chief, three Majors
and eight Captains. The officers hired by the MGPD
represent the best of over thirteen hundred police
applicants that applied for sworn positions. To put
this into perspective, the average sergeant has
twenty years of experience; the average patrol
officer has nearly 18 years of experience.
The
MGPD recruited and hired some of the most skilled
and qualified people in the law enforcement field.
In future issues of Gardens One, you will have an
opportunity to meet the finest MGPD has to offer in
our monthly officer profile. Just a few of the
officers employed by MGPD include:
Officer Wanda Jackson,
from the Detroit Police Department, has over
sixteen years of experience, with many of them
specializing as a Project Coordinator for youth
programs.
Officer James Harris, a
twenty three year veteran of the Miami Beach
Police Department specialized in Community
Policing in the bicycle patrol division.
Sergeant Douglas Skaggs,
from the San Antonio, Texas Police Department
comes with twenty three years of experience and
specialized training dealing with weapons of
mass destruction, hazardous materials and
incident command systems. Sergeant Skaggs worked
in Kabul, Afghanistan prior to starting with the
MGPD.
The years of
experience and specialized training that these and
other officers posess is sure to benefit the
citizens of Miami Gardens for years to come.
The officers
of MGPD have been training under the direction of
Captain Marilyn Gonzalez and Sergeant Gerald
Machurick with forty-four years of combined
experience. Included in the officers hired by MGPD
are a host of officers that are state certified
instructors with expertise in fields ranging from
report writing to defensive tactics, firearms
instruction to defensive driving along with a myriad
of other law enforcement related activities.
The
infrastructure of the MGPD will utilize
state-of-the-art equipment to provide for your
protection. The City of Miami Gardens has invested a
great deal of time and money into their records
management system to provide user friendly police
reports while having the ability to drill down
statistical data for use in the criminal prevention
arena.
The
"Black 'n White" patrol cars you will see on the
street have the latest technology to protect both
the residents and officers. Each patrol officer’s
vehicle is equipped with a digital video recording
system to assist officers in their daily activities.
The in-car video system is designed to document
traffic infractions and other images when officer
are engaged in police activity. Additionally, many
of the patrol vehicles will be equipped with
automated external defibrillators (AED), and other
lifesaving equipment designed to assist citizens in
times of medical emergencies.
Mobile data field reporting will increase the
officers presence on the street and minimize their
down time at headquarters. All of these
technological investments have been made by the City
to increase the level and quality of service that
you receive from your Police Department.
