Miami-Dade sheriff’s goals: ‘responsiveness’ and keeping politics at bay | Opinion

When asked last year how entering the crowded race felt to become Miami-Dade’s first elected female sheriff in almost 60 years, Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz exclaimed: “I’ve entered the major leagues!”

The Dominican-born Cordero-Stutz, a Republican, won on Nov. 5. She now leads the seventh-largest sheriff’s office in the United States. Impressive.

I met with Cordero-Stutz for an unrestricted conversation before her swearing-in on Tuesday.

As what I consider the breakout political figure of 2024, I wondered what her priorities would be for the next four years. Cordero-Stutz first emerged when she beat 10 Republican challengers in the August primary — some of whom have been in the public eye for decades.

Cordero-Stutz did have something the other candidates did not: She had won then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s “Complete and Total Endorsement!” as he posted online in April.

What’s not known is that Cordero-Stutz met with President Trump two months before he endorsed her. She said Trump asked her, “Are you sure you want to get into politics? This is a really tough place.”

Her reply, she said: “Sir, I don’t think I want to; I think I have to” after serving over 28 years in the Miami-Dade Police Department.

Maybe that’s because she sees law enforcement as her career. She told me she identified being the sheriff of Miami-Dade “as a destination, not as a stepping stone.”

Not bad for the daughter of a mom who balanced up to three jobs while valuing education for her children. “Schooling was essential in our house,” she said. Her mother would surprise her children with her own Spanish homework to make sure they learned the language. “I don’t know how she did it,” she says proudly of her mother.

At work, she met her husband Kurt Stutz, who is now a retired Miami-Dade K-9 officer who handled a bomb detection canine (Max, also retired and living with the family).

She started out as a patrol officer and climbed to lieutenant, major and finally, assistant director. She was assigned by her former boss, Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez, who was running for sheriff, the task of detangling the more than $1 billion Miami-Dade police budget and 5,000 personnel from its place under the county mayor. Ramirez’s attempted suicide took him out of the race and pushed Cordero-Stutz to the front.

Switching the leadership of the Miami-Dade police from an appointed position to an elected one has been in the works since Florida voters passed an amendment in 2018 requiring all 67 Florida counties to have an elected sheriff.

Now, the police chief and the mayor are equals. Undersheriff Chris Carothers says his boss is a doer. “She does not hesitate to roll up her sleeves. She gets the hard work done... She’s very authentic and that’s what connects with people.”

Cordero-Stutz made a campaign promise to create online dashboards for the public to access more information without having to go through a public records request process. “We want to make it as accessible and digestible as possible,” she responded when I noted that data can sometimes be confusing without appropriate context or expertise.

She also identified other priorities. “Responsiveness. If we get a complaint or issue of concern from a constituent there are no more layers of bureaucracy. The constituents will hear directly from us in a timelier manner.”

And when asked what her ultimate goal for the new sheriff’s office will be, Cordero-Stutz said in a very deliberate tone, “If my sole job could be to keep ‘politics’ out of the office, then I’ll gladly take on that role because my deputies’ mission is clear.”

I believe Cordero-Stutz’s promise to our county and, if she fulfills them, I will not be surprised to see her as a frequent visitor to the Trump White House during the next four years.

I predict she will have a bright political future in our county and state.

Rafael A. Yániz is an attorney, political analyst and Florida International University Honors College Lecturer. He can be reached @rafaelyaniz on X.

This story was originally published January 7, 2025 at 11:46 AM.