Rita Rodriguez
Adjunct Professor / AIDP Undergraduate Program
Academy for International Disaster Preparedness
Email: ritrodri@fiu.edu
Captain Rita-Maria Rodriguez is assigned to the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Community Affairs Bureau. She has been on the police department for over 24 years. Captain Rodriguez started her career when she was 19 years old.
She has held many assignments to include road patrol, the training academy, the field training program, internal affairs and narcotics in various supervisory assignments. Throughout her career she has managed responses for multiple hurricane deployments, organized the credentialing for all operations during Super Bowl LIV, operational planning for opioid response, coordinated operations for the COVID-19 Pandemic, managed the Family Reunification Center directly assisting the families of the Surfside Collapse, and held the role of Planning Chief for Surfside PD Operations.
She is one of 13 MDPD personnel in her family to include her father, brother, husband and children. Due to her dedication and love for her profession, in 2020 she obtained her master’s degree from the Florida International University in Disasters Management to help her provide the residents of Miami-Dade County with the best response and services possible in their time of need. Additionally, she teaches various disaster management courses for the Florida International University and serves on the Board of Directors for the Alper Jewish Community Center. She strives to provide direct daily personalized assistance with the upmost respect and delicateness to all her personnel, so they reflect the same service to those that serve our community.
She has held many assignments to include road patrol, the training academy, the field training program, internal affairs and narcotics in various supervisory assignments. Throughout her career she has managed responses for multiple hurricane deployments, organized the credentialing for all operations during Super Bowl LIV, operational planning for opioid response, coordinated operations for the COVID-19 Pandemic, managed the Family Reunification Center directly assisting the families of the Surfside Collapse, and held the role of Planning Chief for Surfside PD Operations.
She is one of 13 MDPD personnel in her family to include her father, brother, husband and children. Due to her dedication and love for her profession, in 2020 she obtained her master’s degree from the Florida International University in Disasters Management to help her provide the residents of Miami-Dade County with the best response and services possible in their time of need. Additionally, she teaches various disaster management courses for the Florida International University and serves on the Board of Directors for the Alper Jewish Community Center. She strives to provide direct daily personalized assistance with the upmost respect and delicateness to all her personnel, so they reflect the same service to those that serve our community.