S6 E20 She Made History. Then She Got To work. Visionary Leaders with Guest Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz

Miami-Dade Returns To An Elected Sheriff

We have not had an elected constitutional sheriff in Miami Date County since 1966. So that is huge. That's two generations of not knowing what an elected sheriff means to a community. Good sea captains are not made during calm waters. It is the exposure to the difficulties that allows us to develop the skills we need as leaders. For myself as a law enforcement professional now for 30 years, it was in those pain points that I learned the most about leadership. Lifting up another woman in your profession, obviously in law enforcement specifically, because that's what we're talking about, but I think it applies across the board, does not minimize who you are.

Meet Sheriff Rosie Cordero Stutz

Welcome to Respond Resilience, along with my co-host, Dr. Stacey Raymond. I'm David Ashinger. Sheriff Rosie Cordero Stutz has spent 30 years in Miami-Dade law enforcement, starting as a patrol officer in 1996 and working her way through every rank to become the first elected sheriff the county has had in nearly 60 years, the first woman and the first Latina in Florida history to hold the role. What sets her apart isn't just the history she made, it's what she decided to do with it. From her first day in office, Sheriff Rosie made the wellness of her deputies and staff a priority equal to everything else on her desk. In this conversation, we'll talk about where that commitment comes from, what the wellness program looks like inside one of the largest sheriff's offices in the country today, and where she hopes to take it. If you lead people, work in law enforcement, or care about the leadership and long-term health of first responders, this one's worth your time. This episode is brought to you by Fight Camp, real training on your schedule. Head to jointfightcamp.com/slash RR and use code RR10 for 10% off. There's a new app built by firefighters for firefighters, and it's called Crackle. Download the app now for free as a legacy member and get early access to exclusive content, tools, and updates as they drop. Get the free app at crackle.responderTV.com. Remember to like and subscribe, YouTube, responder resilience. We're on Facebook, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify, and our website is respondertv.com for past guests and more information about shows. We'll be right back to speak with Sheriff after this. Ask a first responder who they are, and you're likely to hear I am a police officer. I am a firefighter. I am a parametric. I am a 911 communications operator. Not I do this work, but I do this job. Ask a clinician why they work with first responders. And they may say, There's no higher calling than helping the helper. Join us in shaping a culture where mental health, wellness, and leadership are prioritized, not whispered about, where support is a sign of strength, not failure, and where no one has to carry the weight alone. Welcome to Responder Resilience. We shine a spotlight on the unseen battles of first responder reality and celebrate the powerful wins that come from the grit of post-traumatic growth. We understand the culture, honor the trust, and bring you conversations from the change makers, passionate about helping first responders come home whole. With your hosts, retired Lieutenant David Dashinger, Dr. Stacy Raymond, and Bonnie Roomeli, LCSW EMT. Our guest today is Sheriff Rosie Cordero Stutz. She's the first elected sheriff of Miami Dade County in nearly 60 years, the first woman to hold the role and the first Latina sheriff in Florida history. A Dominican American who grew up in New York City, she spent nearly 30 years rising through the ranks of the Miami Dade Police Department from patrol officer to homicide detective to division chief to lead the largest law enforcement agency in the state of Florida. Under her watch, homicides dropped 18% and property crimes fell 13% in her first year. She's expanded the mental health and peer support programs for her deputies, launched community transparency initiatives, and has been appointed by President Trump to the FEMA Review Council. She leads with three words safety, security, and service. Sheriff, warm welcome to Responder Resilience.

Thank you very much. It's really my honor to be here with you.

Loving Patrol And Enjoying The Ride

Sheriff, I'd like to start out by asking you, take us back to uh 1996, you know, when you first started uh out at Miami Date as a young patrol officer. If you go back to that time, what do you wish that she had known uh at that time that you do know now?

Well, first let me start off by saying that um I I I always wanted to be in law enforcement, right? That was always part of my mental uh frame of mind, and uh whether it was through my education and and just my work ethic and and my focus, right? Uh so when I got on the road, it was like really a huge culmination for me, right? What um the first thing I would tell you was uh uh I never knew I would love to patrol as much as I did when I got on the road. Um there's a a sense of fulfillment in road work that I think that um people may not even recognize. And it was a huge part of like my first five years, right, uh in law enforcement. So what I would say was, because I was like this, you know, kind of a bookworm type person, right? Gone through high school and college, knowing I wanted to go into law enforcement. But you know, somewhere there was always this voice, oh, you gotta get to investigations and you know, you're gonna want to be a detective. Um but then I got to the road and then I learned that this job is so much more than just the titles and all that. It is about that fulfillment in our profession. I think this is why many of us who are called to this profession, uh, we we we have there's a pull in that. There's a pull in the fulfillment of our own um our own desires. And uh so I would have told my young law enforcement uh patrol officer, uh Ros Rosie, I would say, enjoy the ride. Enjoy the ride. Uh watch and and feed off of what you are interacting in every single day. I've always kind of been a uh, you know, somebody who's always looking to the future, and I think, you know, I should have enjoyed that a lot more.

Well, I love the uh the arc of your career, and we're talking about like 30 years um earning every rank and going all the way to the top. Um a lot of times, you know, we uh we go to courses and we get training on the job training for leadership. Sometimes we go to special courses for it. But what what are some things that you've learned about leadership that simply can't be taught at an academy or a training wellness kind of course?

Uh I I truly believe that there is no replacement for living, for living the action, the moment, the the the challenge, right? Uh I I think there's a uh a phrase that talks about uh good uh sea captains are not made during calm waters, right? It is the exposure to the difficulties that allows us to develop the skills we need as leaders. And therefore, you have to allow yourself the opportunity to be challenged. And so I think it's very safe for a lot of us to not do those things, right? It is easy to stay in the jobs that we know well, right? And the places where we feel comfortable with people. Um, but uh, you know, as good as those things, uh they those things bring some good things, but the what they don't bring are the challenges that we need in order to grow. And and I'll tell you that for myself as as a law enforcement professional now for 30 years, it was in those pain points that I learned the most about leadership. So I I think that's a now I'm also a big believer in in pushing yourself, right? And learning from others and exposing yourself uh to what is going on in the world. So I I do believe in going to formalized leadership programs. I think that they bring a lot. And uh a lot of it is that interaction between the people in that classroom, right? The networking, the ability to learn from each other's experiences as well as just the book smarts.

Running As A Woman In Policing

So clearly what you're saying is that it's it's the struggle that really kind of um polishes the stone, right? It's it's it's not the easy times. So I would also assume it's not easy as a a woman, you know, to to have you know been elected to the position that you're in. How was that for you in a typically male-dominated profession?

Yeah. Uh, you know, so uh for those who don't know, uh, you know, my my sheriff journey, this the journey to get to sheriff was very different than the average person who was running for sheriff, right? We had not had an uh elected constitutional sheriff in Miami Date County since 1966. So that is huge. That's two generations of not knowing what an elected sheriff uh means to a community. So that's number one. Uh I was running against at one point there were a total, right? It was a partisan race, but in totality, we had 17 candidates running. Yeah. So that's another uh point of uh uh and I'll tell you that for me, um, it was very important. The reason I decided to run was because I felt very strongly about my community and all the years that I had invested in in this profession and in our community. I have only served in this county as a law enforcement official. I, you know, I so I was very connected. I am very connected to it. And so as a woman to kind of, you know, the narrative being that, well, you you don't look like the typical sheriff, right? Okay, well, I I may not in your world, right? Uh maybe change a channel from the Westerns. We can move from, you know, from that and and come and see what I've done in this community, what I have been a part of for 30 years in the evolution of this agency. Uh, and that's what I brought to the table that I really feel was the piece that I was able to connect with community. Um, uh so being a woman in law enforcement, I kind of had to jump that hurdle a long time ago, Doc, right? For example, like yeah, I had I had to come to terms with that a long time ago. And I and I had, and I did, and and for me, people say, Well, what what how would you define that? I would define that as I just did my job. I did what I felt was the right thing. And people either respect that or don't for whatever their reasons are. But I'm not someone who puts a lot of energy into what other people are saying about me and where because to me that is wasted energy. That's just how I've been my whole career. So uh, but then when I ran for sheriff, I realized that that was still the narrative outward, right? Outwardly. So I had already established my reputation, right? Uh, years of service and and growing up with uh my peers, uh, mostly men who knew who I was and what I was made of. So I didn't have to really worry about that at year, whatever, let's say, let's just say year 15, 20 on, right? But now I'm running for sheriff. And these are the same questions that I'm being I'm being asked, right? If I was in an interview or a debate or whatever, it's just the same. Well, how do you deal with it? And then I realized that it's still something that people uh want to understand better. And so uh I don't, I do not push back on my being a woman as a leader, I don't push back on um utilizing the God-given skills and talents that I have, which part of those are from come from that you know feminine side when I lead. Uh, that doesn't mean that you know we can't be very effective in the work that we do.

Lifting Other Women Leaders Up

This episode is brought to you by Fight Camp. If your job already demands everything from you, your training shouldn't add chaos to your day. It should give you structure. This is for firefighters, EMTs, paramedics, dispatchers, and police officers who still want a way to train with purpose. Fight Camp brings structured boxing and martial arts training into your home. No commute, no waiting, no guessing if your workout actually moves you forward. Every strike is tracked, so progress is visible, not vague. Every session gives you a clear standard to meet and a way to improve the next time you show up. Head to joinfightcamp.com slash R R and use code RR10 for 10% off. Well, thank you for that. And uh my next question is gonna kind of piggyback on that. We were talking offline a little bit about uh another female sheriff down up here in Clay County where I live. Um and you and Sheriff Michelle Cook recently served as leaders at the Florida Sheriff's Women's Leadership Academy, where you're mentoring the next generation of women in law enforcement. What did that mean to you? And what's one thing you wanted those women to walk away with?

Well, uh, first of all, what it means it means the world to me. So, first, let me just start by saying that uh Michelle is a friend. I've known her for a long time, long before I ever thought about running for sheriff. Well, she was already a sheriff. And so when the opportunity started to arise, she was one of the people that you know I I would turn to and say, Well, what do you what do you think about running for sheriff? And she was like, There's no choice, you have to do it, you gotta go for it, you know. So I just I say that because I think it's important to see um that these positions, you know, historically, uh especially for women, there's always like sometimes a narrative that, you know, we don't encourage each other enough and we don't support each other enough, right? And that's what the leadership academy is about. It's about so when we tell that story, we told that story in that room filled with, you know, women and law enforcement and leadership, um, it I think it resonated with them, right? Because each of them in their own maybe history or path may have encountered that. Uh, but the truth is that there's so much room for every one of us as women and leadership uh to grow that we should be lifting each other. That's what I would want them to walk away from from that. Know that um lifting up another woman in in your profession, obviously in law enforcement specifically, because that's what we're talking about, but I think it applies across the board, does not minimize who you are. It does not take away from your space. And I think that's a very negative um message that has been shared over years. And and I'm I'm hopeful and glad to I think I think we're getting away from it.

Yeah, as a friend of mine and mentor says, we're stronger together.

Building A New Sheriff’s Office

Yes. Oh, absolutely. So what does it actually feel like to, you know, then walk into an organization with uh, you know, with 5,000 people underneath you and carrying that responsibility um in order to affect change? You know, what was that like for you? Did you meet any resistance? What was what did you find easy?

So how was it? Uh how is it too, by the way? It is still very much in the process, right? Uh, you know, you we uh uh compare it to right a cruise ship doesn't turn on the dime, right? It's gonna take time for us to yeah. So um I I would tell you what I found easy and only because of my personal experience. I don't think it would have been the same if anyone else were in this seat right now, which is I because I came up in our agency, because I know the people, because the people know me and I know where their culture lies, it was a much easier, I believe, uh planned for me to be able to affect where we need to get to and how we need to get there. Uh so I would say that that's one of the things that I felt was on the easier side. Not that the actual doing is is easy, but knowing what we needed to do. Um uh what uh difficulties. Um I think that the biggest culture shift internally, right? Accepting the the understanding of a sheriff's office, the independence of a sheriff's office, the strength of a sheriff's office is not something that here is so easy to do because I'm not just changing the community's perception of it. Uh I need to change it internally. And I have to have every one of my deputies understand that so that then they can turn around and serve outwardly. Um, so I think that's a very, very big um change in in how we perceive perceive things. Policies, we uh have to change so many of them, right? Building up our own, being able to stand up on your own from you know, starting from letterhead all the way through, you know, a change in in process and you know, policy. Uh we gotta open up our own bank account. I mean, that's how really granular we have gotten. Uh and and it can be challenges. It can be challenges. Um also the effect of politics in an agency that has been a you know, for all uh police department where where those politics are very much separated from the day-to-day operations. And I think that that uh I I was happy to embrace that change, right? To obviously I ran, so uh I was that happy to embrace it, but now I have to find a way to make that in an accepted norm internally, uh, that it's not a you know a bad word to say that, you know, I am a politician and it's okay. We've got this, we're still gonna be able to do, and in fact, in many, many ways we we can serve our community uh a lot more effectively.

Co-Responders On Crisis Calls

Wonderful. I'd I'd like to shift gears a little bit into the mental health and wellness um topics. And first um sort of on a street level version, and that's um the co-responder model where you're pairing trained officers with social workers on crisis calls, if I have that correct. Um how's that changed outcomes and where do you see that going? What do you see as the future of that uh that mode of operating?

Yeah, so um so our co-responder model includes uh trained clinicians uh alongside our law enforcement. Um, and uh I I just really felt completely blessed to have that model working out from the kind of like from the ground up, right? To be able to have seen it and been a part of it. Uh for me, where is it going? I I really continue to see that as being a huge part of this agency. Uh and and I'll tell you what the benefits that we have seen. The biggest benefits is the reduction in the calls for service back at that same home. And that is huge, right? Because the more law enforcement contact with someone in crisis, right, the greater the chances of violence being part of the outcome, uh, whichever way you're looking at it, whether it's our the you know, the safety of our deputies, uh, the safety of the individual and or their families, right? So uh our our model works this way. We respond alongside, right? The law enforcement uh person is going to make sure that we're gonna take care of the safety and security in the moment. As soon as we can stabilize that, the counselor steps in, right? And then we're able to withdraw as long as everything is safe and secure in the moment, right? But then they follow up, they follow up with the individuals to make sure that they're getting the the resources that they need, that the family is getting the support that they need and the resources they need. Um, and it's in that connection that now we're able to get that individual the true help that they may need and not create a law enforcement need for us to continue to come back. So uh we've had very good success. Uh we continue. I honestly my my hardest uh uh challenge right now in that is staffing, right? It's to be I have to be able to have enough people because these are not just deputies, uh the these deputies, I should say, have additional, like over 800 hours of training, above and beyond what a a normal law enforcement person would is required or would have. So they're they're very highly trained as well. So these are all the things that um we have done and we've been successful, and I want to continue to grow it out just to have more of that support. Uh and so we call it the crisis response unit. And um yeah, and so uh uh we're we're excited, we're excited to see the results and continue on that path.

And we call it, at least in the Northeast, CIT, right, crisis intervention team, and it's the same model, and it's to take it down from being um a disciplinary approach to a this person is having a mental health crisis, and so that needs to be the focus, right? Because they will become defensive if they think um that they're being punished, you know, penalized for their behavior. And that's not the way that they need to be treated, so that makes perfect sense clinically.

Not everyone is meant to walk this path, and that's okay. But for those who feel the call, for those who read these words and feel not just curiosity but conviction, know this. By the time a first responder sits across from you, they've likely exhausted every internal resource they have. This isn't a routine appointment, it's their 911 call. I don't know how much longer I can do this job. You won't hear sirens, but the urgency is real. If you choose to take that call, understand what it means to show up, to stay steady, and to carry the weight of someone who spent a career doing the same for others. This is where the work begins. Be the resource they can count on. Order your copy of Helping the Helpers Today on Amazon, and for bulk orders, email us at inforespondertv.com.

Let's switch gears and focus on your deputies and their wellness. And so your commitment to the wellness of your deputies, where does that come from? Is there did you go through anything yourself that that helped to formulate that?

Making Mental Health A Leader’s Job

Well, uh, yes, and yes. So, okay, so let's start off with uh the the big picture. Um, you know, uh as an agency, we have suffered some trauma in the past years that I was absolutely embedded and a part of. And so for me, obviously, as a law enforcement person myself and having seen all the things that I'd suffered through my career and seeing, you know, and I'm I'm talking from not just the trauma of the calls for service that we handle, having spent five years myself as a homicide detective, right? So fully aware of that kind of trauma. Um, we I've had, you know, having my own partner take his life and and and been part of picking up those pieces after he retired, by the way. It was so then there's a whole, there's an entire group of people, retired law enforcement that we're not even capturing. We're not even capturing it. Let's be real. But okay, so that is my personal experience. And then we have agency trauma in the last several years as well. So I knew that it had to be a very big part of our solution to help support our our deputies in what they do every day. So the one of the very first things that I did was is so, well, let me go back. I do also believe that we as an agency, we were luckier than most agencies, right? Because we had an internal uh behavioral section that provided counseling to anyone who was willing to step forward, right? So we had this already established. That helps me, right? Because now I have an entire section that I can now build up. And so that's what I did. I literally took them out of their normal in the table of organizations. I they're a direct report to me now. Direct report so that they understood and everyone outwardly understood the importance of mental wellness. Um, getting them the resources they need, uh supporting them and what they were bringing to us as ideas. I believe that every deputy is different. We all we all help ourselves in different ways, right? Some some we know deputies that are in the gym, you know, seven days a week, right? And then we know others, right? Yeah. And then we know others who might fishing, you know, they're they've they're they're taking their boat out on the weekends. And those are the ones that, you know, those are the things in our lives that help us to be balanced. And balanced people can do a better job every day. But I think that also is the same when it comes to how we help ourselves. Some people are good in in one-on-one settings, some people are good in group settings, right? Um, and uh, so I wanted to bring as many options. That's where I started. I said I want our deputies to have as many options as possible so that they are at least, if we can make them open to one or another, then they might walk through that door. And uh, I also lead by example. Like one of the things that we did was we brought us some uh support uh therapy um ETMS. Uh everyone can look it up. I I don't know what the acronym stands for, but um when I I introduced it to the agency, I volunteered to be the very first person to take it. And I can tell I I absolutely loved it, had such a great uh response and experience that for me was it was my sleep, right? I was having trouble sleeping. I know, could you imagine? I pop up in the middle of the night with a thousand things in my head. So it really helped me. It helped me tremendously. You know, when you have a full good night's rest, man, that's a game changer. Oh, yeah, it's a game changer, absolutely. It's a game changer. So yeah, and now and we're doing like, you know, uh, we're doing monthly focuses on wellness. We launched a new app for you know access to our deputies. Um we do quarterly events as an agency so that you know uh we and we had one mental wellness day where we did like in like uh uh uh all we brought all the resources to the back of a district station and invited all the deputies to stop by just to be able to see, look what's available to you. And it was a fantastic day. We had an amazing turnout, and yes, we had the food trucks there, and we'll advertise them. Yeah, so it was great, it was really good. So, but I'll continue to support that. Yeah, yeah.

Well, looking forward, um, and this is more of like you know, across the board, not just uh Miami Dade, but if you could change one thing about how law enforcement approaches mental health and wellness, because we see different situations, different outlooks, different, you know, takes on mental wellness depending on the department. Um what would it be? What would that look like if you could change one thing?

I think I think if I could change one thing, it would be that everyone in law enforcement acknowledge that mental wellness is something that it is our responsibility as leaders to address. So I think we're in headed in the right direction. I think there are many of us who do, but I don't think we're there yet. We're not at 100%. And I think if if we can do that, it would be uh very impactful to the profession as a whole. Uh, because I do believe that the negative connotations uh still exist, right? And so if everyone, yeah, the Sigma, if everyone can buy into that and acknowledge, acknowledge that this is a reality that that is part of our profession. Asking for help is not weakness, it is showing strength. Right.

This episode is brought to you by Fight Camp, real training on your schedule. Head to jointfightcamp.com slash R R and use code RR10 for 10% off.

It's almost inevitable, don't you think, Sheriff? Um, if you spend enough time in your profession as a deputy, that you're going to accumulate exposure to trauma. So it's not even a question of, you know, should you reach out? It's when you need to reach out. It's not if it's going to happen, but when it's going to happen. And I think that clearly the difference that I I sense from you compared to other leaders that I know is uh two things. One, leading by example. You yourself went through that mental health program and identified something that you need to work on. I'm sure everybody could go through that and and identify something that they could improve. You know, if if the sheriff can do it, then I can do it, is probably what people come away with. And then the other thing that strikes me is, you know, one of the complaints of about chiefs or admin is that it's like they forgot what we patrol people, uh cops or deputies go through. And it seems like you really enjoyed it, you lived every moment of it, and so you you are still in touch with it. And I think that makes a huge difference if you want to affect people from the top down. Like you've not lost touch with you know the boots on the ground. So that's that's remarkable.

Thank you. Uh and you know what, I I guess I never really thought about it that way, other than to say that um I mentioned early on, not even knowing where this interview was gonna go about how much I enjoyed my first years and you know, patrol on the road. And and and and I would tell my young self to enjoy that even more. Yeah, right. So with that comes the flip side of it, which is remember that there were tough times too, right? There were things, challenges that you had to overcome. And so to be able to support the next generation of deputies as they're coming up, so that that they can have that earlier on in their career, you know, um, you know, I th I think that's that's a really important mission.

Yeah, and to be proactive in that approach, uh, which I think that's coming with this newer generation is um maybe not waiting until um absolutely hit rock bottom before reaching out and asking for help.

Yes.

How Deputies Sustain The Long Haul

So, Sheriff, as we wrap up, um uh please give us one thing you'd like deputies and first responders who are listening to this to take away, just maybe not about necessarily policy or crime stats, but taking care of themselves and sustaining a career for the long haul.

Uh you have to take care of yourself. You have to take care of yourself. That comes with different levels. You have to take care of yourself physically, you have to take care of yourself mentally, you have to take care of yourself tactically, because the truth is that this job has a lot to do with how you perceive the world in order to be successful. And and and I think that's such a such an important piece. Um, uh, I don't believe that every deputy or officer is going to be a uh what's the the the TV character, movie character uh that's just like perfect, right? Like physically fit and has all their gear and whatever. That's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is is having the skill set to handle the situations that you're contr you're confronted with. And I think if you have those things, uh when one of the one of the other things goes a little south, you can handle it, right? For example, if if you keep yourself healthy and you keep your family and support system healthy, if you're having a hard time because maybe you're having a medical, you know, situation, which by the way, everyone has at some point in their life, right? Then you handle it better. You handle it better because you have that built in. And I think that we in law enforcement sometimes are we push hard to be perfect, right? You gotta always be perfect, you gotta always be on the spot, and that's a lot of pressure. And so that's what I would say. Keep yourself, you have to take care of yourself. Um, hobbies, whatever they are, are important uh because they don't they don't just relieve stress, they create other groups that you can lean to, right? Um, I think that's a good balance to have. We should all have friends that are not law enforcement professionals. And you know, cops tend to stick together with cops. It's the same, right? Right? Because we live it every day. We're willing to give up our lives for the community and each other. Uh, so that that's a really high bar to set when you have friends. But having balance with people outside of law enforcement makes us better, better human beings. So take care of yourself.

Great, great answer. Yeah, Stacy, any final thoughts?

I just I think that, Sheriff, your approach it works so well because you're confident you've you know you can justify everything that you believe in. But then there's not this um, you're gonna, it's not this dominance, uh, you know, you have to listen to me because I'm sheriff approach. Like it's it's it's more leading by example. If if someone wants to pick on you or you know, the public is giving, you know, and their negative view on something, you kind of just let it roll off your back. You don't even get caught up in it, and you're gonna put your energy into what works. And I think that that that speaks to your success.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And uh I wholeheartedly do agree. Not that it's easy because I think that you know, you know, it's hard. It's not easy. Yes, it's not hard. Like, don't read the comments, but uh, you know, yeah.

Well, Sheriff, thank you so much for spending this time with us. We have been looking forward to this conversation and it did not disappoint. So we wish you all the best uh moving forward. Are are there any um website links, socials that you want to share?

Sure. So please obviously follow us on our social media uh platforms, and ndsol.com will also provide all those links right to you. So we I really appreciate uh you taking the time and inviting me on. It's been a pleasure.

Likewise. Remember to like and subscribe, YouTube respond resilience. We're on Facebook, LinkedIn, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. And our website is respondertv.com for past guests and more information about shows. Till the next time, stay safe, be kind to yourself, take care of it.