Says he had been thinking of retiring for months
Dr. Garth A. Rose
City of Lauderhill Police Chief Andrew Smalling confirmed to National Weekly he has tendered his resignation from the City of Lauderhill Police Department. Smalling, a Jamaican American, has been police chief of that city since 2011. Prior to this he served the Broward Sheriff Office (BSO) for twenty years, including 11 as Chief of the City of Lauderdale Lakes Police Department.
Prompted as to the reason for his sudden resignation, submitted on August 24, and to be effective on September 8, he said he had been thinking of retiring for months. “I just believe that it’s time to retire from the force after a long tenure.”
Smalling, age 53, said he was, however, willing to serve as consultant in the area of law enforcement, and was open to provide such a service to officials in his home country, Jamaica. “If given the opportunity, I would be happy to provide my years of experience in a consultative capacity in the interest of national security in Jamaica.”
Residents of Lauderill said, they were “taken aback and disappointed” at Smallings “sudden” resignation. “He was really one of the good cops. He made a determined attempt to improve the relationships between the community and the police department,” said Lilly Baxter a Lauderhill resident.
The retiring chief of police said he had a “good tenure” at Lauderhill PD. He cited the achievements during his tenure as: improvements in community relations, increase and success in youth programs initiated by the department; improvement in the departments use of the latest policing technology; and reduction of crime for three years. He said, unfortunately, there were signs of increase in crime over the last year.
