Pembroke Park police contention grows

New chief could lose his job before it begins

PEMBROKE PARK — The new police chief for an entirely new police force in one of Broward County’s smallest towns might be out of a job before he even starts running the department.

Pembroke Park was supposed to have its own police department up and running by now, but the process has been stymied by cost estimates that keep rising and internal arguments about how many officers ought to be on the force to properly staff a shift. At this point, there’s no time frame in sight to pull it all together.

Town Manager Juan “J.C.” Jimenez gave commissioners a cryptic heads-up that at the next meeting in January he’ll be making “a recommendation for termination.”

Sources say Police Chief David Howard’s job could be on the line, as frustration grows within Town Hall about whether this new police department was a good idea in the first place and if the town ought to cut its losses.

Howard acknowledges there’s a problem. “I assume it’s me,” he said Friday.

Howard started the job in Pembroke Park in February at a salary of $115,000. Although the agency isn’t up and running yet, taxpayers are still footing a payroll of about $30,000 each month for Howard and four other people, including an administrative assistant, a technology staffer and two part-time law enforcement experts who are assisting.

Jimenez can fire employees on his own, but the termination of the police chief would need approval from the commission because he is a department head.

Howard had retired from the West Palm Beach Police Department in 2017 and crossed paths with the Pembroke Park’s mayor because they are both airline pilots. He previously told the South Florida Sun Sentinel he was offered the job and agreed

because “I was looking for a challenge.”

On Friday Howard said the department is still an attainable goal. The biggest hurdle is getting the proper computer software and linking it to Broward County’s regional 911 system.

But so much is already done: cars are in the parking lot, guns are on back-order, the game plan for accreditation is organized. Howard said he already has 600 applications for officers.

“The residents deserve their own agency,” he said. “I never ever said it was going to be cheap.”

For now, town leaders this week agreed to go along with Town Manager Juan “J.C.” Jimenez’s proposal to hire a law enforcement consultant to figure out what the true costs would be, and what the town should do next.

The consultant could give an objective opinion on “true staffing levels,” Jimenez said, and “redo the entire study and let us know what it truly takes ... what it entails to create a police department.”

“What concerns me is, there are still concerns regarding staffing levels, and if there’s an accident, if there’s a call, and we don’t have that back up,” he said.

The police department has been pushed by Mayor Geoffrey Jacobs, who said it was sorely needed to provide both better service to residents and save money.

He faulted the current arrangement with the Broward Sheriff’s Office for police services, saying the town could be left unattended, and the costs were becoming onerous. The relationship recently soured further when the Sheriff ’s Office closed its only substation in the town without formal notification.

The original estimate to maintain the Pembroke Park Police Department was $2.7 million per year, but has now increased to $3.2 million after additional officers were added to the plans.

It’s still a cost savings from the Broward Sheriff ’s Office price of $3.3 million. But town officials said they aren’t sure they can even pull it off for less, especially as staff receive annual raises. The latest projection for the cost in five years is $3.4 million, and even that is uncertain.

“What I’m concerned with is that this is not the final number and it’s going to keep going up,” Jimenez said. “Remember, when we started this process, we were going to save some money.

“I’ve reached the point where we need to press the pause button and reassess.”

Jimenez said if the town had known what the true numbers are, he wouldn’t have supported it.

“It’s like buying a house and the day of closing they change the price on me,” he said.

His original recommendation was not approved: cutting all costs within the police department.

So far, Pembroke Park has invested $1 million into the police department. It has spent about $400,000 on equipment; $465,000 for police cars and $150,000 in payroll.

The commission also is expected to extend its contract with the Broward Sheriff’s Office through September while it figures things out, as well as consider surrounding cities that can offer police services.