Former police chief tapped for West Palm Beach job

Fort Lauderdale Frank Adderley, a former Fort Lauderdale police chief and Broward Sheriff’s Office colonel, is likely to become the top cop in West Palm Beach.

West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said in a staff email Tuesday that he has nominated Frank Adderley to be the city’s next police chief.

“Chief Adderley and I share a vision for [West Palm police department’s] future community policing, customer service, and culture of responsiveness,” James wrote in the email. “That, coupled with his strong relationships with neighboring agencies and the local community, will make a positive difference for the department and our residents. Chief Adderley’s record of success in those key areas in Fort Lauderdale — with a similar population size, similar regional issues such as homelessness and crime, as well as similar social and cultural dynamics — makes him a great candidate for this position. I am confident he will take the West Palm Beach Police Department to the next level.”

The city commission is scheduled to vote on the nomination June 3.

Adderley would replace Sarah Mooney, who will become the assistant police chief for Emergency Management. That job has grown from hurricane readiness to concerns of terrorism, train derailments and chemical spills, James said.

Adderley joined the Fort Lauderdale Police Department in 1980 and was the first African-American promoted to the ranks of major, assistant chief and chief of police, a job he began in 2008.

He came up through the ranks with former Broward Sheriff Scott Israel, who was once a Fort Lauderdale cop. The men joined the department at about the same time, patrolled together and were promoted together. Adderley spent 36 years with the city’s police department.

In 2016, Israel brought him to the Sheriff’s Office, where Adderley oversaw community outreach and the civil division, courthouse operations and the 911 communications system.

Gov. Ron DeSantis removed Israel from office nearly a year after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Within days, the new sheriff dismissed many of Israel’s top command staff, including Adderley, who was a colonel.

Adderley, 57, who lives in the same home he grew up in Fort Lauderdale, said Tuesday he would move to West Palm Beach and begin the new job immediately.

“I’m not just going to be a police chief, I’m going to be a neighbor,” he said.

He said West Palm Beach’s concerns mirror what he has dealt with in the past: violent crime and a downtown concerned about homelessness.

Adderley said he driven through high-crime areas and “it’s very similar to Fort Lauderdale,” he said.

Will he be there long? He said he prays every day and will “wait till He directs you. If it’s God’s will, for how many years, I’ll leave it up to Him. I was kind of shocked transitioning out of the Broward Sheriff’s Office — I really thought I would be a good fit there. [But] that door closed and now a new one opened.”