Miami’s First Black Police Chief Retires From Troubled Force
Police Chief Clarence Dickson announced his retirement Friday after 3 1/2 years at the helm of a 1,100-member department rocked by corruption and confronted by rising violence against its officers.
“This was entirely my own idea,” the department’s first black chief said at a news conference. “I felt like the highlights of my career I had already experienced.”
During his tenure, about 100 officers were convicted of crimes, forced to resign or disciplined for offenses ranging from participating in a deadly drug theft ring to personal drug use.
City officials announced that Dickson, 54, whose appointment was seen as a response to the bloody riots in Miami’s Liberty City section in 1980, would be replaced by Assistant Chief Perry C. Anderson, who also is black.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
