Miami’s top-ranked female cop expected to be sworn in as chief in North Miami in August
After three decades in a string of high-ranking positions with the city of Miami Police Department, Cherise Gause is expected to be named the fourth woman to lead a police agency in Miami-Dade County when she takes the helm in North Miami at the start of next month.
Gause, 50, who currently runs field operations in Miami, has been seeking a chief’s position for several years. A finalist for the top job in both Miami and Tampa in recent years, Gause would inherit an agency that’s a few officers shy of its 120 slotted sworn positions.
“She’s absolutely the best candidate for any job,” said Miami Police Chief Manny Morales. “I wish I could talk her into staying.”
Word of Gause taking over for interim chief Angel Rivera in North Miami spread accidentally last week when an internal email from Rivera to staff was leaked. Rivera has been serving on an interim basis since Larry Juriga’s retirement in March. In the email, Rivera said Gause will bring a “wealth of experience and leadership” to North Miami and that he expected support and co-operation from staff during the transition.
Rivera referred questions about Gause’s expected hiring to Assistant City Manager Aneisha Daniel, who hadn’t returned a phone call from the Miami Herald by early afternoon. Gause also hadn’t returned a call. Law enforcement sources familiar with Gause’s expected hiring said Rivera might have jumped the gun writing the email because full details of her contract hadn’t yet been completed. But they do expect it to get done and for Gause to join the North-Central Dade city of just over 60,000 residents.
South Florida Police Benevolent Association President Steadman Stahl said contract negotiations are undergoing in North Miami and that he had no major concerns about the agency or the way it operates.
North Miami Police, a usually under-the-radar agency, made international headlines in July of 2016, when behavioral therapist Charles Kinsey was shot by an officer in the leg in the middle of the street while trying to protect a severely autistic patient who had wandered away from a facility. The picture of Kinsey lying on the roadway in a bright yellow shirt with his arms up while begging police not to shoot, resonated on social media.
Kinsey lived and reached a settlement with the city. His patient Arnoldo Rios Soto, who was 27 at the time and some family members moved to North Florida several years ago. And North Miami police officer Jonathan Aledda was eventually found guilty of culpable negligence, a misdemeanor. Aledda and police said they believed a toy truck Rios Soto was holding while sitting on the ground next to Kinsey, was a gun.
After the shooting the city implemented a host of new policies, including sensitivity training for officers. In early 2022, the Third District Court Of Appeal overturned Aledda’s conviction and ordered a new trial. Not long after, the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office decided not to pursue a new trial, saying the officer had already been fired and served a year of probation.
The hiring of Gause will make her the fourth female in chief of Miami-Dade’s 34 law enforcement agencies, a higher percentage than most other counties but still a relatively low number considering the percentage of women in policing. Other local chiefs include Delma Noel-Pratt in Miami Gardens, North Miami Beach Chief Harvette Smith and Medley chief of police Jeanettee Said-Jinete.
Gause is one of only three women in the 126-year history of the Miami policing to reach the rank of of assistant chief. She began her career as a dispatcher and rose to oversee 1,000 officers in field operations. She’s also led criminal investigations and managed the agency’s almost $300 million budget.
