Miami Gardens Police Department Institutes an Agency-Wide Problem Oriented Policing Strategy

Change is something that is constant, quite often difficult, and absolutely necessary. And the Miami Gardens Police Department is no different when it comes to change.

Since we started policing our City, quite a bit has changed. We went from being called a “fledgling 5 year old city”, to a city that has come into its own, with some very positive achievements over the last 5 years. As we approach our tenth anniversary with some impressive achievements under our belt, we changed our original plans of having a sworn police force of 150 officers, to our current authorized staffing level of 211 police officers, and an equally important civilian support staff of 57 personnel.

There are other noteworthy changes that we are excited to share with you, and hope you can find satisfaction in them. Our most positive and noteworthy change is the fact that we have reached a crime reduction of over 40% since the Miami Gardens Police Department started providing police services to our citizens, businesses, and visitors.

This reduction in crime is a monumental task, which we have worked hard at achieving through the commitment of our officers, cooperation of our citizens, community associations, business partners, and criminal justice partners. They are a direct reflection of our continued efforts to fight crime, address quality of life issues, and enhance the relationships we share with members of our residential and business communities.

With this positive change in mind, some people might say, “If things are going so well, why change them?” The answer is simply because the people of this community deserve forward thinking initiatives, and a commitment from us to go from what we consider a Good Police Department to a Great Police Department

We hope to accomplish this goal by initiating an agency-wide problem oriented policing strategy. Problem Oriented Policing, sometimes called Community Policing, is nothing new to the Miami Gardens Police Department, as many of you may have had contact with one of our 12 member Community Enrichment Team over the years.

This initiative will work towards expanding and benefitting from the positive lessons learned through the application of the very same philosophy and practices that have worked to our benefit in the past.

The practice of searching for root causes is different than the traditional incident based policing strategy that could sometimes have officers responding to the same location and problem on multiple occasions. Our new policing model is geared toward teaching our staff to get to the root causes of our community’s problems in a more timely fashion. The identification of root causes will then allow our officers and service aides to take appropriate actions, such as taking definitive enforcement actions, contacting other City services for assistance, or calling upon existing social, economic, and faith based resources to help with these problems. Research has shown that this is a smarter method of policing, and helps to reduce rates or return for the same problem, and ultimately solve them more quickly.

To achieve a sense of ownership, and improve our chances of

being successful in this new initiative, we have segmented the City into 3 distinct Patrol Districts. This segmenting of the City will allow a Captain, serving as a District Commander, to take the helm of their area of responsibility, and work with a team of officers and supervisors to address the concerns of our stakeholders, as well as work towards finding solutions to their most pressing problems.

In addition to the redistricting, there will be a Captain in charge of our Traffic Unit, K- 9, GREAT Program Officers, and our Community Programs Officers. This unit will be headed by Captain Eduardo Martinez. Please stay tuned for additional information, District Officer profiles, and problem solving success stories. In the coming months, each District Commander will schedule a meet and greet session for their district’s residences.

Please forward an email to your District Commander to be notified of future MGPD events in your District.

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