DORAL, Fla. — On Friday, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz publicly addressed her command staff shakeup for the first time.

Cordero-Stutz removed Assistant Sheriffs Eric Garcia, Brian Rafky and Shawn Browne from their posts. All three have spent decades in law enforcement.

She brought the three on when she took office in January 2025, following the re-establishment of a sheriff’s office in the county.

“When you are in this position, this complete change to an independent office of the sheriff, leadership changes are going to happen,” she said.

Cordero-Stutz declined to divulge specifics about why she decided to take the trio off duty after about a year on the job.

“The reason for my decision is for the growth of the office of the sheriff, and that was the decision I made on how I was going to change and continue to move forward,” she said.

Local 10 News was told that Brown and Garcia were forced to retire, while Rafke took a demotion to captain.

“We are proud of the service that the assistant sheriffs gave to this county and they have moved on in each in their own way,” Cordero-Stutz said.

Local 10 is reaching out to the three former assistant sheriffs. At least one, so far, has declined to comment.

Moving forward, Cordero-Stutz said she’s reassessing the positions.

Miami-Dade sheriff addresses shakeup at top: ‘Leadership changes are going to happen’

But she doesn’t say exactly why she decided to take them off duty

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Janine Stanwood