About the Chief

David A. Rivero is the Chief of Police at the University of Miami where he oversees a sworn staff of 33 police officers and another 30 security and support staff personnel. Hired at the U in October of 2006, Chief Rivero is responsible for a fiscal budget of over nine million dollars and for the security of a 230 acre campus with more than 25,000 students, faculty, and employees.

During his 26-year career with the Miami Police Department, Rivero directed several of the Department’s most important responsibilities in supervisory and command positions in the Field Operations Division, Homicide, Media Relations, Internal Affairs, Training, the Criminal Investigations Division, and the Little Havana Neighborhood Enhancement Team (NET) and as the Commander of the Coral Way NET. His last position with the Miami Police Department was as a Major of Police in charge of the Central Patrol District, responsible for all crime-fighting operations and other city functions for four NET’s in the Overtown, Wynwood, Allapattah and Edgewater neighborhoods. The personnel of the Central District consisted of 3 Police Commanders, 9 Neighborhood Resource Officers, 7 Lieutenants, 28 Sergeants, and 195 Police Officers and had a fiscal budget of nearly 20 million dollars. The Central District also had three undercover Problem Solving Teams which handled most of the street level narcotics enforcement and quality of life concerns.

Rivero has won numerous awards, but the one he is most proud of is the personal commendation he received from FBI Director Louis Freeh for his involvement in “Operation Greenpalm” while with the Miami Police Department. The fourteen-month investigation was initiated by then Lieutenant Rivero and targeted corrupt politicians. The investigation concluded with the successful arrest and prosecution of the City of Miami Budget Director, the City Manager, a City Commissioner, a County Commissioner, the Seaport Director, and two lobbyists. The investigation involved more than two hundred consensual and covert video and audio recordings, two Title III wiretaps, several surreptitious search warrants and countless hours of video and photographic surveillance using some of the most highly sophisticated equipment in the FBI’s arsenal. During the fourteen months of the investigation, Rivero was detached to the FBI where he received their highest top-secret security clearance.

In the year 2000, Rivero was called upon to lead the Miami Police Department’s investigative efforts into several questionable police involved shootings. Through a joint investigation with the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office, 13 police officers were indicted for conspiracy to violate civil rights in a pattern of gun planting incidents that began in 1996. Two of the officers pled guilty and cooperated with the investigation. From the aftermath of this investigation, then Captain Rivero was asked to help rewrite the department’s shooting policy. He also personally wrote the Miami Police departmental order on how to conduct criminal investigations.

As a police major, Rivero was one of the co-chairpersons on the State Attorney’s Office Crimes Against Law Enforcement Officers committee. He served on the executive board of the Medical Examiner’s Fatality Review Team, which oversees and reviews all Miami-Dade County murders resulting from domestic violence. He has vast experience in commanding Field Forces during civil unrest and the Emergency Operations Center during disasters. He was also the Miami Police Department’s top spokesperson for five years.