Miami Beach police chief is due to retire. City Commission wants him to stay
The Miami Beach City Commission voted Wednesday to allow Police Chief Wayne Jones to serve two additional years in his role, changing rules that would have required him to retire in August.
Commissioners were unanimous in their initial vote to extend the chief’s ability to participate in the Deferred Retirement Option Program, a state initiative that lets people begin collecting retirement benefits while they continue working, typically for up to eight years.
The measure commissioners backed Wednesday, which requires a final vote at a future meeting, would extend Jones’ eligibility period in the program from eight to 10 years, letting him stay on as chief until August 2028.
City Manager Eric Carpenter and elected officials were effusive in their praise of Jones, 57, who ascended the department’s ranks over three decades and became the first-ever Black police chief in Miami Beach in 2023.
“I believe that our police chief is the best police chief in the country,” Carpenter said during Wednesday’s meeting. “I believe that the morale of the department is as high as it’s been in the entire 13 years that I’ve been here, and I believe that speaks volumes of how the chief handles his business.”
Officials lauded Jones for declining crime rates, enforcement of a ban on camping, efforts to police the city’s waterways, and consecutive years of relatively calm spring break seasons.
“Extending Chief Jones, I believe, offers stability,” said Commissioner Alex Fernandez. “It continues the very measurable, the very real progress in our police department.”
Compromise with police union
The notion of tweaking retirement rules for police leadership initially ruffled feathers among the police department’s rank and file.
Earlier this month, Carpenter floated the idea of extending the deferred retirement period from eight to 10 years not only for Jones but also for every member of the department’s command staff, according to Miami Beach police union president Bobby Hernandez.
The union opposed that concept, saying it would block promotions for lower-level officers.
Union leadership met with Carpenter last week and reached a compromise, Hernandez said, so that Jones would be the only officer granted an extension.
Hernandez told the Miami Herald after Wednesday’s vote that Jones committed to promoting one lieutenant and one sergeant later this year, when those positions would have otherwise opened up after Jones departed.
“We were able to meet with the city, and we all agreed that we loved the direction the police department was taking,” Hernandez said. “All we ask for is that the rank and file not be affected.”
Jones’ salary when he was hired as chief was $262,000. His current salary is about $295,000, city spokesperson Melissa Berthier said. His annual deferred retirement payments are about $152,000, which he will receive after he leaves the department.
To extend his participation in the program, Jones will simply need to complete paperwork required by a board of trustees that administers the city’s police and fire pension plans.
This story has been updated to clarify that Jones does not need authorization from the pension board to extend his participation in the deferred retirement program. This story has also been updated to include Jones’ current salary and the amount of his deferred retirement payments.
This story was originally published February 25, 2026 at 3:34 PM.
