The Miami-Dade Police Cutler Ridge district is reverting to the name it had decades ago: the South district.

County commissioners unanimously agreed to the change Tuesday, in a move that pleased Cutler Bay officials who have expressed concerns that people sometimes mix up crime in the district with crime in Cutler Bay.

''It will lead to more accurate reporting of the news,'' Mayor Paul Vrooman said Tuesday.

Commissioner Katy Sorenson proposed the rechristening. She cited confusion from having the district station within the borders of Cutler Bay -- even though county officers are responsible for unincorporated areas outside the town in the district, which stretches roughly from Southwest 152nd Street to the Monroe County line, from Biscayne Bay to Collier County.

The station, at 10800 SW 211th St., is in Sorenson's commission district, as is Cutler Bay.

Cutler Bay, which contracts with the county for services, has a separate police unit.

Sorenson made the request after recently hearing from Vrooman, one of Sorenson's aides.

Town officials had mentioned the name change in recent months, partly because news reports sometimes said crimes had taken place within the town when they had occurred just outside of it.

When Cutler Ridge district Officer Jose Somohano was shot and killed and three other officers were injured in Naranja last year, cable TV stations first reported the crime as taking place in Cutler Bay.

That had family members of Cutler Bay police unit officers frantically calling Town Hall for information, Vrooman said.

''That becomes horrifying for them,'' he said, adding that Cutler Bay was proud to house the district office within the town. ``It does a lot of damage and causes a lot of unnecessary stress if that information is not clear.''

Since incorporating in 2005, Cutler Bay has also been working to shed its post-Hurricane Andrew reputation of being home to some unsafe areas. No members of the public spoke about the name change at the commission meeting, although a representative from the county's police department said they supported the renaming. Cutler Ridge Maj. Carlos M. Garcia also backed the move.

''The change is more reflective of the entire community we serve,'' Garcia said in an e-mail Tuesday. The change takes place immediately, unless County Mayor Carlos Alvarez vetoes it within 10 days.

The 842-square-mile district was known as the South district from 1977 to 1993, when it got its Cutler Ridge name, Garcia said.

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