NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – North Miami Beach’s police chief has rescinded his letter of retirement just one day after issuing it.
Richard Rand said a meeting with City Manager Arthur Sorey and the support of the community and other city leaders convinced him to stay on the job.
“The city manager and I have had a very productive meeting last night where he committed his full support along with the city officials,” Rand said, reading a prepared statement Friday. “I believe that we can now move forward together to continue serving this great city.”
Rand abruptly turned in retirement papers Thursday morning, with the city’s mayor Anthony DeFillipo saying he felt Rand was being unfairly “micromanaged.”
That led to a meeting between Rand and Sorey. Both stood side by side as Rand read his statement Friday.
Rand has only been chief since February but has been with the department for over 24 years. He said he now plans to retire after three years.
Breaking- Chief of @myNMBPolice Richard Rand announces that he has rescinded his letter of retirement and will be staying on as Chief. What a few days! @WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/iwIunKD4Ps
— Rosh Lowe (@roshloweWPLG) November 5, 2021
“I’m not at liberty to discuss the specific details of my meeting with City Manager Sorey,” he said. “This is about my ability to effectively lead this police department with the full support from the city officials and the community. We owe it to the residents of this wonderful city to serve them as guardians, as this is the oath we take as law-enforcement officers.
“Yesterday was an opportunity for us to come together and do what was right for this community,” he continued. “The outpouring support of City Manager Sorey, the mayor and commissioners, the media, and last but not least you, the community has encouraged me to rescind my letter of retirement so that I may continue to proudly lead this incredible police department as I was sworn to do as your chief of police back in February.”
Residents of North Miami Beach’s Jewish community were particularly outspoken after Local 10 broke the news of Rand’s plans to retire, imploring Sorey to rip up that letter and find a way to retain him.
“I was shocked about the resignation letter but happy we got it cleared up in less than 24 hours and we are ready to move forward,” Sorey said Friday. “[The community reaction] shows what a great chief we have here, what a leader he is, and what the community thinks about him.”