Ousted Broward Sheriff Scott Israel is finalist for chief’s job in tiny Bay Harbor Islands
It didn’t take long for Scott Israel to resurface.
Fresh off a losing bid to reclaim his job as Broward County sheriff, Israel has emerged as a finalist for the police chief’s post in Bay Harbor Islands, a tiny island community on the eastern edge of Miami-Dade County.
Israel, 64, spent four years as the police chief of nearby North Bay Village before his first election victory as Broward sheriff in 2012. As a Democrat in one of the bluest regions of Florida, Israel easily won the seat again four years later and continued to lead close to 5,500 personnel in law enforcement, fire rescue and the courts.
But he was stripped of the post in January 2019 by Gov. Ron DeSantis after a state-appointed panel determined his leadership was in part to blame for some BSO deputies’ delays in engaging a mass shooter roaming the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. In the end, 17 students and administrators lost their lives and 17 others were seriously wounded.
Israel lost in bids to regain his seat through motions in the state Senate, a court fight and an election. Voters chose appointed Sheriff Gregory Tony over Israel in the August Democratic primary for Broward sheriff.
Now Israel has popped up as one of three finalists in Bay Harbor Islands, a community of less than 6,000 next to Bal Harbour Village and Surfside and separated from the mainland by Biscayne Bay.
The other finalists are former Hollywood Police Chief Thomas Sanchez and Raul Diaz, a former assistant chief in Fort Lauderdale who most recently served as the chief in Lynchburg, Virginia.
