PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. — Pembroke Park Police Chief Daniel Decoursey is firing back at Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony, calling the sheriff’s recent comments about his department “false,” “misleading,” and “unfair” to his officers.
At a Wednesday news conference, Tony used Pembroke Park as an example of what could go wrong if Deerfield Beach ends its law enforcement contract with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
“You know what’s happening now down there?” Tony said. “BSO is picking up the volume of the calls because they don’t have enough police officers. They don’t have enough resources. And they quality of the officers to them, that they are hiring, are some people we fired. For misconduct.”
Chief Decoursey stood before cameras later in the day to defend his department.
“We’re not seeing any increase in crime because Pembroke Park is providing police services here. Our officers are out there day and night,” Decoursey said.
When asked about the false statements he believes the sheriff made, Decoursey replied:
“The false statements had to do with people that were fired for misconduct from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. Another false statement was is that he’s handling the majority of our calls. Another statement was that we are under staffed. Currently we’re not under staffed.”
Decoursey said the town currently has 19 sworn officers, one vacancy, and is hiring two more officers in the next budget cycle.
“We had over 5,302 calls for service and they assisted us 18 times,” Decoursey said of BSO’s mutual aid in the past four months.
Pembroke Park ended its contract with BSO in 2022, citing a lack of service for the money it was paying. Now, Deerfield Beach is considering doing the same.
“You cannot afford to play this political game and have the same ripple affect down in Pembroke Park,” Tony said. “Where they are begging, some, for us to come back. We are answering a majority of their calls. If this game is played in Deerfield, people are gonna die because of this. So that is why I’m so damn assertive about this.”
Decoursey said residents are satisfied with the department’s service and acknowledged there were problems when the department first formed.
“I arrived here in April 2024. We came into an agency and my job, my directive, was to fix the agency and turn it around,” Decoursey said. “We’ve done that. Did they hire some bad apples in the back previously? Probably. I can tell you now that we went through every employee here and we moved the organization forward. Everybody here is a productive member of our organization.”
The sheriff is standing by his statements. The chief is standing by his rebuttal.
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