The Fort Lauderdale Police Chief is on a mission.
Chief Frank Adderley, who has been the Chief of Police for about 7 years, lives in the modest neighborhood where he grew up, Dorsey Riverbend, which is just south of Sistrunk Boulevard.
But his attention has turned to the neighborhoods north of Sunrise Boulevard.
That is where the crime is highest in the City, and Adderley has been out in those neighborhoods, and says he is personally committed to solving the hefty problems there.
First, Adderley called the leaders of South Middle River, Middle River Terrace, Lauderdale Manors, LakeRidge, and the 13th Street Alliance to a meeting at the Lauderdale Manors community center, and unveiled new strategies. Department brass showed the attendees pictures of a few dozen felon juveniles that have been burglarizing 100’s of homes in the area, and spoke about the Department’s plans.
Then he talked about the SmartWater program, which the City is expanding to Lauderdale Manors and Middle River Terrace, after successful results from the pilot program in South Middle River.
This week, Adderley took his show on the road, door to door!
Adderley and SmartWater reps walked Saturday in Lauderdale Manors, explaining the program to homeowners, and signing them up.
Gotta love it ! ……. Good Luck Chief!
Show me new better numbers.
We are extremely lucky to have chief Adderly leading our Police Department and looking after the citizens of Fort Lauderdale. It is unfortunate that certain members of this community criticizes and cannot appreciate him for his extremely hard work. Those who do criticize him ,I encourage them to move to another city. It’s time for all of us to say “thanks chief” for a job well done. I know that I sleep better knowing that he’s in charge of that position. From me and the members of my household thank you chief Adderley. Bravo job well done.
It is time to fix the problem in those communities. Thank You to the Chief of Police for the proactive attitude. Maybe another seven years for this chief.
A brilliant initiative, makes total sense as no criminal will want to buy anything with Smartwater on – i bet they’re buying black lights right now! Well done Chief!!
Hi Tim,
I enjoyed your Blog Post about Chief Adderley. Thank you, also, for including
the Lauderdale Manor SmartWater Launch on your well-read site.
My SmartWater CSI associate, Brenda Bailey, and I had the experience of walking
through the Lauderdale Manor neighborhood Saturday morning going door to door
alongside the Chief, FLPD officers, and several inspiring community leaders
including Edna (association President) and Joanne & Christine from the
neighborhood.
My experience with Chief Adderley is that he’s about making a positive and
effective difference in communities dealing with systemic residential &
commercial property crime. He took the lead yesterday knocking on doors,
visiting with folks one on one, and ensuring that people clearly understood that
they can help make their families more secure by marking their valuables with
Smartwater and displaying the signage to let the Bad Guys know that it’s best to
simply walk away or face a far greater risk of being marked, caught, and jailed.
Tim, what struck me personally the most yesterday may surprise you. It’s not
about SmartWater. And it wasn’t just the energy, creativeness, and fierce
determination of a Police Chief on a very real-world mission to personally take
charge of crime fighting when necessary, though that was impressive enough. It
was a quiet, unassuming moment with the Chief that Brenda and I were
unexpectedly fortunate enough to witness firsthand.
I had approached a young woman and her small child sitting outside on the front
step of a particularly modest home, on a street that we were canvassing in a
section that had recently experienced several break-ins, to offer her a
SmartWater Kit. After speaking for several minutes with the rather quiet and,
seemingly, distracted woman, I began to walk toward another nearby home to begin
the process again. As I started to leave, I heard the voice of Chief Adderley
from across the street asking me what the status was with the home I had just
visited. Without fully waiting for my reply, he quickly made his way to the step
with the Mom and her shy daughter and began to speak with her. As the scene
unfolded it became apparent that the young Mother was very distraught about
something. It was then that the Chief displayed a side that I imagine few see of
him on a daily basis. He very quietly and sincerely began asking a series of
questions of the Mother showing a genuine interest in whether there was
something wrong that he could, perhaps, as the Chief, help with. He took the
time to speak gently to the little girl who, though hiding behind her Mother’s
arm, appeared to respond positively to the personal attention. He spoke with the
two of them, Mother and daughter, as someone who certainly gave every impression
of caring about what seemed to be bothering them.
Though the Mother never directly expressed that there was something specifically
wrong or that they were in any kind of danger, the Chief made sure that she had
his contact information and that of the FLPD, if the need should arise. In a
relatively few brief moments, the woman’s face and eyes seemed to brighten just
a bit at the recognition that someone in the Chief’s position cared enough to
stop, ask, and listen on a personal level that, my guess is, she had not
experienced in quite awhile.
We eventually moved on, but not before the Chief was satisfied that all was
generally OK with Mom and daughter. I imagine that the almost, but not quite
discernible smile that was trying to appear on the Mothers face would actually
remain for a few more minutes as she contemplated the chance meeting with a
Chief Cop who, deep down, still has a Fatherly instinct when the situation calls
for it. Brenda and I left the home with a better idea of who the Chief is and
why he feels as strongly as he does about the neighborhoods throughout Fort
Lauderdale.
By the way Tim, we had little time yesterday to review the wonderful
conversation that had just taken place. Chief Adderley and Edna demanded a pace
and timeline that meant we had a lot more homes to visit and many more
SmartWater Kits to give out over the next three hours and it wasn’t getting any
cooler.
As you know, Chief Adderley is personally out there again tonight at the Middle
River Terrace SmartWater rollout. Another neighborhood to help and it’s still
not getting any cooler.
Thank you.
Logan Pierson
It’s a very good sign that the police chief is personally taking interest in our problem. Too often there is a failure in dealing with these problems, because of to little commitment by those who are supposed to help. I agree with you Tim… Good job!
I hope I get a chance to get a smartwater kit and maybe shake the Chiefs hand to thank him.
I applaud the chief’s personal and professional commitment toward the community he serves.
I Would also like to see the smart water made available ( for a nominal fee) to all residents of Fort Lauderdale
Lets see a story about the racist, hypocritical PD office employees who commented on the Palestinians. They made a big deal of police allegedly profiling and discriminating, let see Big Al Smith investigate and Little Howard fire some folks like they called for in the Police Departments!!!