The town of Pembroke Park has once again voted to terminate the chief of police.
By a vote of three to two Friday night, the small Broward town decided to get rid of Police Chief RaShana Dabney-Donovan, who had only been on the job seven months.
"This is something clearly about pubic safety and the rights of those that have been violated under the chief's leadership," said Commissioner Geoffrey Jacobs.
Pembroke Park has only had a police department for a year and a half. In that time, it has had two chiefs of police.
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Pembroke Park Mayor Ashira Mohammed agreed with Jacobs.
"I’ve watched and seen where we’ve had a lot of things falling through the cracks, a lot of issues," Mohammad said. "My intent is to preserve the town of Pembroke Park's police department and ensure its success."
Dabney-Donovan, however, defended herself against the complaints, calling them politically motivated.
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"You sat up here on this dais and said I'm not doing my job," Dabney-Donovan said. "I am doing my job. As evidenced by all these wonderful people that stand here behind me. Officers who pound this pavement every single day, working tirelessly for this community, all under my leadership."
Established in 2022, the Pembroke Park Police Department has 18 officers.
The Broward Sheriff's Office served the community before that for 40 years.
Pembroke Park Police has since been slapped with several lawsuits and some allegations of misconduct that are currently under investigation.
Last May, the town fired it's other police chief because the commission wanted to go in a different direction.
Before Friday night's final vote, the public weighed in and overwhelmingly asked the commission to let Dabney-Donovan keep her job.
"If you terminate the chief of police you will essentially be ending the town of PPPD," said one woman who attended the meeting. "She has support, as you can see, from not only the community, but also the department and it will be very very hard to keep things together when a trusted leader is terminated."
The chief still has another chance to save her job at the next commission meeting in May, which is when she legally has the right to defend herself and her position.
In the meantime, an interim chief was appointed until a final resolution.
