Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz reviews first year and office transition in televised one-on-one interview

A year into Miami-Dade’s return to an elected sheriff, the office remains in transition

Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz has marked more than a year in office as the county continues a major structural change in how law enforcement is organized. In a televised one-on-one interview aired Monday night, Feb. 23, 2026, Cordero-Stutz discussed her first year leading the county’s top law-enforcement agency and the ongoing conversion of the former Miami-Dade Police Department into the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office is a revived institution in Miami-Dade. The position had not existed for decades before being restored as an elected constitutional office in recent years, reshaping the governance model for one of the nation’s largest local law-enforcement agencies. Cordero-Stutz took office on Jan. 7, 2025, after winning the November 2024 election and began overseeing the newly renamed agency as it moved from a police-department structure to a sheriff’s office.

What the transition changes—and what it does not

The interview highlighted an organizational process that has extended beyond the first year of the new administration: staffing, branding, chain-of-command adjustments, and policy continuity all remain part of the transition period. While day-to-day policing functions continue, the shift to a sheriff’s office changes the leadership framework and the political accountability of the agency, placing the top post in an elected role rather than an appointed one.

Cordero-Stutz described her first year as containing both successes and setbacks, reflecting the operational pressures and public scrutiny that accompany a countywide law-enforcement leadership role during a restructuring.

Key context on the sheriff and the office

• Cordero-Stutz is the first elected Miami-Dade sheriff in roughly six decades and began her term on Jan. 7, 2025.
• The new sheriff’s office took over from the Miami-Dade Police Department on the same date, ending the previous departmental structure and formally establishing the sheriff’s office identity.
• The election created a single, countywide elected official responsible for leading the primary local law-enforcement agency, with a four-year term.

The interview revisited decisions and challenges from the first year, while situating them within a longer administrative shift that continues into 2026.

What to watch next

As the transition continues, county residents can expect further clarity around how the sheriff’s office will operate administratively and how its leadership will measure outcomes over time. The interview underscored that the conversion is not a single event but a multi-stage process, with the sheriff’s first term likely to be defined by both public-safety priorities and the completion of the organizational overhaul.