He Was Miami Beach Police Chief, Now He’s The School Of Justice Director At MDC
In October of 1995, Richard “Rick” Clements, who was then a City of Miami Beach patrol officer, confronted a man who was reportedly armed and making threats to passersby near Washington Avenue in South Beach.
The man shot Clements in his left hip, fracturing his femur, and Clements shot the suspect in the back.
Both men survived the tense encounter, but the incident fueled the young officer’s passion to pass on what he learned.
“It’s never about the glory; it’s always about what led me to that position and what I could teach other people to do to avoid those situations,” Clements said. “That became a passion for me.”
After a 33-year career at the Miami Beach Police Department that included a four-year stint as police chief and 17 years on the SWAT team, Clements is sharing his experiences at Miami Dade College as director of the School of Justice.
He started the post on Oct. 23. The 59-year-old succeeds Michael DeLeo who oversaw the program from May of 2022 to April of 2023.
His responsibilities include overseeing the daily operations, curriculum, region training and instructor development opportunities for the SOJ.
Paul Kiley, the director of basic training at North Campus, said Clements has the “one thing there’s no substitution for—integrity.”
Clements has close ties to the College. He graduated from the police academy at North Campus in October of 1990 and served as a part-time instructor for the program for the past 26 years leading 50 graduating classes.
“[I feel] a lot of happiness and excitement because he knows us,” said Shawnee Fross, the program manager for firearms and defensive tactics at the SOJ. “Coming in as the director instead of a part-time instructor, he’s going to have the opportunity to make changes that he thinks will better the department.”
After graduating from Miami Sunset Senior High School in 1982, Clements moved to Utah to attend college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in history in 1986 from the University of Utah.
Once he obtained his degree, he returned to South Florida to work as a substitute teacher at Centennial Junior High School in Cutler Bay for one year.
But he knew law enforcement was his career path. That belief was heavily influenced by his father, John Clements, who served as a motorcycle sergeant and the firearms range master for the City of Miami Beach for 26 years.
To make his law enforcement dream a reality, Clements enrolled at the police academy at MDC in 1990. Ten days after graduating, he joined the City of Miami Beach Police Department as a patrol officer, a position he enjoyed for 12 years.
In 2003, he was promoted to sergeant, where he helped with the patrol component of the department’s certification accreditation process and oversaw the Crime Prevention Unit.
That enlightened Clements to the importance of community policing, a method that believes in fostering relationships between officers and residents.
Clements continued to rise up the ranks working as a lieutenant, captain, major and deputy chief before being promoted to chief in 2019, a position he maintained until he retired in October.
At the School of Justice, Clements wants to incorporate more technology—like virtual reality sets—into training, focus on communication and writing skills, and emphasize diffusion, de-escalation and listening techniques to train officers how to avoid using deadly force.
“I want to see the training center elevated to be the Harvard of training centers, where everyone looks to us to say, ‘We want to be like them.’ And that involves innovation. And it involves risks,” Clements said. “If you have a better opportunity to do things better tomorrow, why wouldn’t you? That’s my goal.”
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