SURFSIDE, Fla. – Surfside has another new police chief: the old police chief.
One day after Surfside police Chief Wayne Holbrook abruptly stepped down, the man he replaced, Chief Henry Doce, abruptly returned as the town’s top cop.
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Acting Town Manager Mark Blumstein made the announcement Friday in an all-staff email obtained by Local 10 News.
“Please join me in welcoming him back to Town Hall,” Blumstein ended the email. “Welcome Home Chief!”
Doce abruptly resigned himself in December after less than a year on the job.
It wasn’t yet clear Friday what led the veteran lawman to return to Surfside, but sources tell Local 10 News that Holbrook resigned because of an unhealthy work environment and tensions with Mayor Charles Burkett.
It all comes amid tension between Burkett and the city’s police officers. The mayor has been seen on body camera videos involving himself in police activity. One woman claimed the mayor pulled her over.
Doce returns as the Surfside Police Department’s existence gets thrown into question.
At Tuesday’s town commission meeting, Burkett is expected to place an item on the agenda seeking to have the brand new Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office take over law enforcement on the island community.
Local 10 News reporters Glenna Milberg and Rosh Lowe contributed to this story.