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James Loftus, the director of the Miami-Dade Police Department, the largest police force in the southern United States, has announced his early retirement. The news comes just two days after Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was re-elected, and might or might not reflect tension between the department and the mayor’s office.
Loftus is a 26-year veteran and took over the top position in 2010.
“I think I’ve done my part, while you, the men and women of this department, have in large measure, done the rest of the work,” Loftus wrote to his MDPD colleagues. “Your courage, caring, and commitment to doing what is right, no matter the cost, makes this department what it is: tested but unbroken, vigilant in a time of great turmoil and uncertainty, unrelenting in the face of danger.”
Loftus is credited with deflating a bloated bureaucracy at the top levels of the department, and guided the department while the police union and county hall battled over contract negotiations that ultimately saw cuts to the force.
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His retirement will take effect October 1.
It’s worth noting that the announcement comes shortly after his boss, Mayor Gimenez, won re-election. As a cost-cutting former city manager, Gimenez is “an unpopular figure within the police department,” the Miami Herald writes.
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