The Aventura Police Department Has Evolved Into a Department That Can Handle Almost Any Type of Law Enforcement Situation
By Brooke Prescott, Miami Herald (Florida)
On his first day on the job in 1997, Aventura Police Chief Tom Ribel walked into an empty conference room equipped with only a computer, 35 officers and five civilians.
Today, inside a five-story building at 19200 W. Country Club Dr., the police department is bustling with more than 100 officers and civilians, a temporary holding cell, gym and plenty of offices so everyone has room to do their work.
“Our goal was to provide quality law enforcement services to Aventura, reach national accreditation and build a full-service police department,” Ribel said.
With seven years under his belt, Ribel appears to have achieved his goal several times over.
In March 2000, the police department received its national accreditation, and, according to Ribel, was the youngest agency in the country to do that.
The department was then reaccredited in 2003.
Described by Ribel and officers as “totally self-sufficient,” the police department boasts its own SWAT team, K-9 and homicide units and underwater recovery dive team.
Ribel says his department uses Miami-Dade police for helicopters, bomb squad and lab services, but that his officers do their own crime scene investigations.
And in 1998, the department started patrolling more than just the 3.2-square-mile city. It launched a boat patrol responsible for cruising the city’s waterways, enforcing no wake and manatee safety zones, as well as keeping an eye out for crooks.
After his initial wave of hiring in 1997, which consisted mostly of experienced officers from such cities as North Miami Beach, Miami and Miami Springs, Ribel said he eventually started putting department employees through the police academy.
“We’ve groomed a lot of officers from other positions in the police department, [such as] dispatchers, public service aides, and sponsored them through the police academy,” he said.
Today, 19 of 77 officers started out as police department employees, Ribel said.
Although the city has grown by approximately 8,000 people since incorporating in 1995, the number of violent crimes has fluctuated throughout the years.
But the city saw its lowest numbers last year with 54 violent crimes.
Likewise, the crime rate which saw its highest percentage in 1999, dropped about 6 percent from 2002 to 2003.
Officer Michael Giordano, one of the first officers hired in Aventura, said a reason for the crime decrease is because of the constant presence of police officers.
“We saturate the streets -- the criminals see us out there patrolling,” he said.
There are other benefits, Giordano added: Aventura ‘is a very nice place to work, and the residents are outstanding.’