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Delrish Moss
NBC News Screenshot
Veteran Florida cop Delrish Moss has been picked to lead Ferguson, Missouri’s police department, which became the subject of national news after a white officer fatally shot an unarmed teen and a federal probe concluded racial bias throughout the city’s justice system.
“Change doesn’t come easily, but I think I’m ready for that challenge,” Moss told ABC 10.
Moss, 51, is a major with the Miami police, and is expected to bring years of experience with 32 years on the job that city officials hope will repair the department’s reputation after the killing of Michael Brown in August 2014.
“This has been a long and strenuous process, but we believe Major Moss is the right choice,” Ferguson Mayor James Knowles, told NBC News.
“We understand the past 18 months have not been easy for everyone, but the city is now moving forward, and we are excited to have Major Moss lead our police department.”
Moss was chosen over three other finalists from Indiana and Missouri. He will replace interim Police Chief Andre Anderson, “who was suspended last August after it was discovered that he’d previously been suspended three times in one year,” ABC 10 reports.
Moss told the news station that he wanted to become a police officer after being harassed by two Miami officers who called him the N-word when he was a young man.
“I wanted to provide to my community better service than I was getting that day,” Moss said. “Those things really made me become a police officer.”
Moss knows that he has a large task ahead of him but he is welcoming the challenge.
“If we’re transparent, if we’re persistent, if we’re listening, I think we stand a good chance of moving forward,” he told ABC 10.
Read more at the ABC 10 and NBC News.
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