Our new Commander, a descendant of cuban parents who immigrated to the U.S. in the 1960’s, was born and raised in the City of Miami in the Little Havana area. He joined the Miami police explorers in 1991 and became a Police Officer in 1997, and continued the following 8 years in Field Operations as an Officer and Sergeant. Following his passion to serve his community in the next 9 years he advance to the Internal Affairs Section working in the Internal Investigations Unit, Anti-Corruption / Public Corruption Unit as a Sergeant & Lieutenant. He worked as Deputy Commander of the Coral Way N.E.T. prior to his promotion to Little Havana Commander on April 1, 2016. Police Commander Ibalmea holds a Bachelors in Criminal Justice Mgmt.

The Little Havana residents and business owners have received the new Police Commander with open arms and he has demonstrated to all that he is available to speak, assist, and listen to the concerns and suggestion of the residents and business owners at all times. He has demonstrated every time they meet with him and his team, that he is very involved with the community and believes that in order for the police department to be the most effective, efficient and successful, we must work together in partnership with the community and its stake holders.

The City of Miami Police department utilizing the latest technique in public relation and community outreach has recently initialized several programs including “Coffee with a Cop”. McDonald’s sponsored the first event at Calle 8 and Flagler St on April 27, 2016, where the community along with Police Commander Ibalmea were able to discuss issues, obtain input and answer questions with the citizens that attended from the community in an informal manner without a specific agenda in order to build strong relationships and trust between community and police officers.