It was because of money that Pembroke Park decided to ditch its relationship with the Broward Sheriff’s Office in what was supposed to be a cost-cutting move.
And it was money that led to the town firing its first police chief less than a year after the newly minted Pembroke Park Police Department hit the streets.
Town commissioners, including those elected earlier this year, were concerned about the police department, “in particular the budget,” Town Manager Juan “J.C.” Jimenez said. “Yes, the budget, today, the actual numbers … exceed the original estimates that were presented and approved by the commission.”
While he praised the town’s “excellent police officers,” “”I believe in order for this department to get a fair shake, to get a fair chance to succeed, it needs to be done with a new chief of police,” he said, urging them to fire Chief David Howard, which they swiftly did.
Only one commissioner protested, Commissioner Geoffrey Jacobs, blaming city staff not cooperating with Howard. He insisted on speaking after the vote. Mayor Ashira Mohammed banged on her gavel, asked for his microphone to be shut off, and when he wouldn’t stop trying to talk: “Could I please get someone to please remove the commissioner off the dais?”
When Howard, who had just been fired seconds earlier, didn’t assist, she called for a brief recess. Howard did not publicly address the commission.
Mohammed offered little explanation — except to say town leaders wanted to “go in a new direction.” She also said the police department was supposed to cost taxpayers an estimated $2 million a year to maintain, but it “far exceeds that.”
Howard could not be reached for comment Monday.
The new police department has been rife with drama since the onset, as projected costs to start up the department wildly fluctuated. Town administration blamed Howard for adding on costs after his initial financial projections.
Even the former finance director, who has since been fired, had questioned whether the new police department was even possible, sparring with leaders when he alleged the police chief submitted “calculation errors” and his budget is “wrong.”
“You are looking at bad information, the numbers are not correct,” the former director told commissioners at a public meeting last year, especially since the chief submitted a proposal for a $5,000 annual salary bump for the entire department.
And Howard had been at odds with town leaders. Last August he filed a notice of intent to sue, citing “a campaign of harassment” with two unsuccessful previous attempts by the town manager to get him fired. “The commission just added another ‘0’ to that lawsuit,” Jacobs said.
After the meeting, Jacobs accused his colleagues of firing the chief as an attack on Jacobs, since he had helped create the department. Jacobs, the town’s former mayor, had faulted skyrocketing costs with the Sheriff’s Office among the reasons for the need for change.
The town hired Howard, who had retired from the West Palm Beach Police Department in 2017. He had met Jacobs because they are both airline pilots, and Howard was then hired as the agency’s police consultant in June 2020 and as its chief in February 2021.
“They gave no reason,” Jacobs said of his colleagues’ reasoning to fire Howard. “I believe they are trying to undo everything I’ve done for this town, including the police department. It is very personal.”
Unlike most cities in Broward that operate with a strong manager form of government, Pembroke Park has a commission form of government where elected leaders act as a liaison between departments, such as finance and police. Mohammed replaced Jacobs as mayor after the other commissioners selected her to be the mayor earlier this year.
“Everyone else has other responsibilities,” he said. “That shows how this is personal.”
The police department opened last October after town leaders refused to extend a contract with the Sheriff’s Office, even though the department’s anticipated opening at the time wasn’t scheduled until early 2023.
Town leaders have since criticized the move as exceeding the originally anticipated $2 million or $2.7 million cost.
The current cost to run the agency now stands at $3.4 million, and it’s projected to rise about $220,000 since two community aides are now needed to free up officers for traffic control, according to finance records released Monday.
That’s more than the contract with the Sheriff’s Office, which was charging $3.3 million.
In an interview with Police Magazine published last month, Howard estimated the department could eventually see additional costs, mindful of the town’s growth. “I would venture to say that our budget will be around $5 million in the next couple of years, but nothing near seven,” he said, according to the magazine.
The story offered some tips for starting a new agency, and one section was about “initial hire” considerations involved. Howard told the publication, “You don’t have a functioning field training program if you’re brand new. You have to hire officers that might have had some issues in the past.” Howard had hired some officers who had been been fired or forced out from previous police jobs to start his new department.
Moving forward, Maj. Ra Shana Dabney-Donovan was tapped to become the acting chief for administrative-related tasks.
Lt. Wade Douty was promoted to work with her as acting operations chief.
“You need to have one person steering the ship, not two,” argued Jacobs.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash