Chief Donald De Lucca is a 32-year law enforcement professional, who was appointed Chief of the City of Doral Florida Police Department in August 2014. From 2011 to 2014, he served as the Chief of the Golden Beach Police Department, a waterfront residential community in Northeast Miami-Dade County. Prior to joining Golden Beach, he served more than 26 years with the Miami Beach Police Department, where he rose steadily through the ranks, becoming Chief of Police in 2001. Chief De Lucca has a solid breadth and depth of departmental experience in both operations and administration.
With the continued growth in the popularity of Miami Beach as the destination of choice for out of town and local visitors alike, Chief De Lucca was tasked with developing innovative plans for a steady stream of major events while balancing the needs of the residential population. To achieve this pivotal balance, Chief De Lucca focused on developing the department’s greatest resource – its people. He continues with this philosophy today in Doral. By elevating the emphasis placed on top quality training throughout each employee’s career, the leaders of tomorrow’s law enforcement industry are developed today.
Chief De Lucca’s direction for his law enforcement organizations is to achieve organizational excellence; he and the agencies he has led are committed to operating in a principle-centered way focused on continuous learning and accountability. Chief De Lucca has led these organizations to execute on its highest priorities. Both the Miami Beach and Golden Beach Police Departments received their accreditation during Chief De Lucca’s tenure. Additionally, the Doral Police Department received state accreditation in October 2015, becoming the eleventh agency in Miami-Dade County to achieve this goal.
Throughout his career at the three agencies, Chief De Lucca actively pursued comprehensive community policing initiatives based on resident and business engagement, utilized a district plan, initiated the use of non-lethal weapons, developed a Crisis Intervention Team, instituted a Special Events Voluntary Response Team to facilitate the staffing of major events, and reduced crime significantly. In May 2016, the Doral Police Department was one of fifteen agencies selected by the “COPS Office” for best practices as a result of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing.
Chief De Lucca was awarded “The Outstanding Law Enforcement Leadership Award” in 2015 and 2016 by the Miami-Dade County Police Benevolent Association.
Chief De Lucca has a Bachelor’s Degree from Barry University and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Staff and Command where he was class president. He is a life member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police “IACP.” In 2013, he was elected 4th Vice President of the IACP by its membership at its annual conference which represents 30,000 law enforcement executives in over 150 countries. On Oct. 18, 2016, he was sworn in as the 104th of the President of the IACP in San Diego, California.
