A badge, a gun and a rabbi: Command staff shakeup raises questions at MDSO

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Is Mark Rosenberg the real Miami-Dade Sheriff?

Just over a year into the job, Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz is already reshaping the top ranks of the newly minted sheriff’s office — and not in a quiet, bureaucratic way.

Three assistant sheriffs. Gone. Eric Garcia and Shawn Browne? Out. Brian Rafky? Demoted.

No scandal. No explanation. Just a carefully worded statement about “ongoing assessment” and “evolving demands.”

Pero, por favor.

According to the sheriff, this is all part of the transition from a county police department to a full-fledged elected sheriff’s office — the kind voters approved years ago and finally got in 2025.

“Leadership changes are going to happen,” Cordero-Stutz said.

Sure. They always do. But three top commanders — all handpicked by her just a year ago — don’t get shown the door at the same time without something happening behind the scenes.

Las malas lenguas say the shakeup didn’t start with performance issues, or restructuring, or some abstract “vision.” It started with a traffic stop conducted by Rabbi Mark Rosenberg, a longtime law enforcement chaplain and, now, a senior advisor to the sheriff.

Read related: Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz touts new RoboCop car

Rosenberg said those “rumors” are untrue.

“I’ve never pulled over anyone,” Rosenberg told Political Cortadito. “For my own safety, I never would.

“What’s even more insulting is they say I pulled someone over on a Saturday. That’s the Sabbath.” Orthodox Jews typically do not drive on the holy day.

Other sources say it was because Rosenberg, who may have been deputized by the sheriff, wanted to have someone, perhaps the driver he allegedly stopped, arrested for no good reason and these commanders balked. Twenty-four hours later, they were called into a meeting and told they would be demoted if they did not resign.

Ladra reached out to two of the three disciplined officers through mutual friends. They aren’t talking. Ladra hopes they are talking to an attorney. Or investigators at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Rosenberg also told Ladra that he does not have a take-home vehicle or a salary — “I’m a volunteer” — and that he’s had his own gun for years. Sometimes he carries. Sometimes he doesn’t. As is his right. “It has nothing to do with the sheriff’s department,” he said.

But a memo from July indicates that he is much more than a volunteer. The sheriff calls him the “team leader” of her new “executive management team” which is there to “guide and support the effective execution of key departmental initiatives, ensuring projects are completed on time and with measurable results.”

He ranks above the head of government affairs, Christine del Portillo, who was the chief of staff to Sen. Rick Scott, the major of the Homeland Security Bureau, the major of the Intracoastal District and the lieutenant of special patrol.

His voice mail on his personal cellphone says to press 1 if it is an emergency and “dispatch will attempt to locate me.”

But it goes beyond that. Several sources said that Cordero-Stutz has cut everybody else off from the campaign and that people need to go through Rosenberg if they want to talk to her. They make him sound like a Christian Ulvert at County Hall or lobbyist Jorge Luis Lopez in the era of Carlos Gimenez.

So, he’s like a political operative in a law enforcement agency.

Read related: Rosanna Cordero-Stutz gets Trump’s support in Miami-Dade sheriff’s race

Rosenberg also says his badge is the same as the ones given to 19 other chaplains in the different law enforcement agencies in Miami-Dade and that it’s never been a problem before. He had one before there even was a sheriff. And he says it is straight anti-semitism.

Among the rank and file, Rosenberg has picked up a nickname: “Jew One.” Yeah. Let that sink in.

The label says more about the culture inside the agency than it does about the man himself. It is not just a nickname — it lands as a loaded, borderline (and arguably outright) antisemitic label, especially in a law enforcement setting where rank, titles, and respect are everything.

“If there was a Christian chaplain would they call him ‘Christ One,'” Rosenberg asked. “After testifying in the Senate about hate speech it is disturbing to see some of these comments.” The rabbi testified in Senate hearings last year about the rise of antisemitism.

But Rosenberg isn’t just any advisor. He’s deeply embedded in law enforcement circles across South Florida, serving in chaplain roles with multiple agencies — including the Florida Highway Patrol and North Miami Beach Police — and running a nonprofit focused on crisis response and handling of the deceased.

That nonprofit, notably, was created just months after the Surfside condo collapse — a moment that reshaped emergency response networks across the region and also positioned him as a point man in emergencies. Living close by, Rosenberg was one of the first to arrive at the scene. Since then, his presence has only grown.

Access. Influence. Visibility. And now, apparently, friction.

Ladra is told that concerns were raised internally about the chain of command and scope of authoritiy, the optics of a non-sworn advisor acting like he is law enforcement, and how much influence Rosenberg has in decision making.

In other words: who’s actually running the show?

Those are not small questions in a law enforcement agency trying to define itself — especially one just emerging from a historic transition into an elected sheriff’s office.

The sudden firings and demotion of the three assistant sheriffs followed the removal of the captain, major and division chief of the special patrol division. Which means a lot of experience has just been moved out before the FIFA World Cup games come.

Read related: Buyer’s remorse: Kionne McGhee wants refund on $46M to FIFA World Cup

Rosenberg insisted he had nothing to do with the firings. He told Ladra that he “never had a problem with any of the assistant sheriffs” and that his role as an advisor is just that.

“I wouldn’t describe it as an influence. It’s an advisory role,” Rosenberg said. “If she wants to get my advice on how to say something, for example.”

The rabbi says he’s known the sheriff, who did not return calls or a text, for 25 years. They met when she was a major and he responded to a shooting. He delivered the invocation at her swearing-in.

“I don’t make decisions. The sheriff makes decisions,” Rosenberg told Ladra. “She discusses things with me but I’m not going to get into what she discusses and what she doesn’t discuss.”

Critics say that Rosenberg has too much influence. That he is there because he helped Cordero-Stutz with the Jewish vote in 2024 — and raising money from New York City Jews who own property in Florida — and that she is still campaigning. And that perception matters. Especially in law enforcement. Because when a civilian advisor becomes a point of internal tension and senior command staff who raise concerns are suddenly gone, people are going to connect the dots.

This isn’t just about personnel changes. This is about a power structure still being defined. The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office is barely a year old in its current form. The hierarchy, the culture, the boundaries — all of it is still in flux.

And in moments like this, you find out very quickly who has influence and who doesn’t.

Sheriff Cordero-Stutz says the changes are about “growth.” Maybe they are.

But when experienced command staff exit quietly, and a non-sworn advisor’s role becomes a flashpoint inside the agency, that’s not just growth. That’s a shift.

And Ladra suspects we haven’t heard the last of it.

This kind of independent, government watchdog reporting is crucial to transparency and democracy. And more so every day. Help shine a light on the darker corners of our community with a contribution to Political Cortadito. Click here. Ladra thanks you for your support.

  Mark Rosenberg, Miami-Dade sheriff, Rosanna Cordero-Stutz