Deputy Chief Ervens C. Ford is a Haitian-American who grew up in Little Haiti, an inner city neighborhood within the City of Miami, Florida. He attended Gesu Catholic Elementary School, a private Catholic school in Downtown Miami, then Miami Edison Senior High prior to joining the U.S. Army from 1984 to 1988. During his stay in the Army, he attended night classes in college at his duty stations located at the University of Maryland, University of Texas at El Paso, and Howard University in Washington D.C.
In May 1989, Deputy Chief Ford joined the City of Miami Police Department. During his 29 years of service, he worked in Patrol, Narcotics, Domestic Violence, Sexual Battery, and spent 17 years in the Homicide Unit. While in the Homicide Unit, Deputy Chief Ford handled a number of high profile cases, and was instrumental in the arrests prosecutions of several dangerous gang members from Zoe Pound, John Doe Gang, Vonda Gang, and the Boobie Boys. He was also the lead Investigator and supervised several police involved shootings. Deputy Chief Ford’s homicide cases were featured and aired on the Network A&E investigative show, “First 48” television program from 2004 to 2012.
Deputy Chief Ford was awarded the Outstanding Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award from the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District in 2003 and 2017. He is also an Instructor with the United States Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement. In 2012, he became the Police Commander over Little Haiti, the same neighborhood where he grew up and attended high school. In 2016, he was promoted to Major of Police, overseeing the North District Station that includes Model City, Upper East Side, West Little River, Buena Vista, and Little Haiti. He retired from the City of Miami as an Assistant Chief of Police.
He came out of retirement and worked with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office for a short stint of time before joining the City of North Miami Beach Police Department on May 20, 2021. Deputy Chief Ford holds a bachelor degree in Management and Public Administration from Barry University. He is also an accomplished Polygraph Examiner, and a graduate of University of Louisville Command Officers Development (SPI). In total, Deputy Chief Ford has over 32 years of professional law enforcement experience, excluding his years as a military police officer.
On a personal note, Deputy Chief Ervens Ford is a divorced father of 2 young men. His older son followed in his footsteps and is currently a police detective with the City of Miami Police Department. His younger son is a junior in college. Deputy Chief Ford’s platform at the North Miami Beach Police Department is Community Policing, to improve police relations with the general public, educate the community on law enforcement issues, lower violent crimes, and to be as accessible as possible.