Delrish Moss of Miami was motivated to become a police officer after being mistreated by law enforcement as a child. Quite naturally, he said his pursuit of a high-ranking position in a police department had a personal motivation: He wanted to fire bad cops like the ones who abused him.
Moss took the oath of office at the Ferguson Community Center on Monday in front of a crowd of about 150 people, including city residents, police from other departments in the region, as well as a handful of officers from Moss’ previous employer, the Miami Police Department.
Then, in his first remarks to Ferguson officers as their new boss, Moss delivered a stern warning.
“If you work hard, if you stay honest and committed, if you maintain respect for the community and do your job well, we will get along just fine,” he said. “If you fall short of that, and it’s through a mistake of the head, we will work to correct that. But if you do it with malice, if you do the job in a way that disrespects the badge that you hold, I will see to it that you are either removed from police service, or further prosecuted.”
Moss has been president of the Miami Police Athletic League, which reaches out to youths, and on the board of the Urban League of Greater Miami and an organization called A Safe Haven for Newborns. He also is a member of the NAACP, National Association of Black Journalists and Tender Essence Inc., which deals with issues such as teen pregnancy, substance abuse and violence.
More than a year and a half after the death of Michael Brown the beleaguered county near St. Louis has finally new chief of police.
The veteran Florida police officer was picked to lead the Ferguson Police Departmen, according to reports. The news of Moss’marks a turning point for the department, which was come under intense scrutiny after generating national headlines from Brown’s death.
The unarmed black teen was fatally shot by a white police officer in August 2014. Since Brown’s death, protests have been held to protest the tragedy as well as the handling of the case. A federal probe concluded there was racial bias throughout the Ferguson’s justice system.
“Change doesn’t come easily, but I think I’m ready for that challenge,” Moss told ABC 10.
A major with the Miami Police Department, Moss comes to Ferguson with 32 years of experience on the job. The 51-year-old’s years of experience are something Ferguson officials are looking to in hopes of repairing the department’s reputation since Brown’s death.
According to ABC 10, Moss was selected over three other finalists from Indiana and Missouri and will replace interim Ferguson Police Chief Andre Anderson, “who was suspended last August after it was discovered that he’d previously been suspended three times in one year.”
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