New Miami Police chief sworn in

COCONUT GROVE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Thirty-five-year Miami Police department veteran Miguel Exposito has been sworn in as chief of the city's 1100 police officers and 400 civilians.

Tuesday's ceremony comes three weeks after Tomas Regalado was elected mayor, and two weeks after John Timoney submitted his letter of resignation to city manager Pete Hernandez. "I think that just the fact that someone from within the department was named as the new chief is going to go a long way to improve the morale," Exposito said.

"The chief has been very gracious, and he understood that the new mayor wants new people," Regalado said.

Within three decades, Exposito has risen through the ranks from a $3 per hour public service aid to the head of every division in the department. Exposito's wife and daughter were there to support him and see his life-long dream finally happen. "It's always been a dream of his to become the chief of police, and he finally made it," said his wife, Liana Exposito.

Exposito's daughter was also very proud of her father's accomplishment. "He's worked so hard for this, so I'm glad to see him finally get the position," Stephanie Exposito said.

Exposito's first task is to catch the ninja-like gunman who robbed and raped two women in Coconut Grove in the past month. "It's an unfortunate situation that we're facing, but I guarantee you that my people are out there doing their job and doing a good job," Exposito said.

Miami Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff said this rapist has had an economic impact as well as a safety impact on the neighborhood. "I'm hoping we come a little outside the box because I know this can hurt the merchant community extremely, and I want to make sure that there's at least an ideology out there trying to get a bunch of people to walk together so they feel safe," he said.

One of the chief's first priorities will now be to take about two dozen officers off desk duty and put them out in the field.

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