STEVE REID
Editor & Publisher
sreid@lbknews.com
It’s not all hurricanes, library fundraising and road construction on Longboat Key, there is also important police activity that happens on the scenes and behind the scenes, all led by the Chief of Police.
And Longboat Key Town Manager Howard Tipton excitedly announced that Russ Mager, who recently served as Chief of Police of Delray Beach, is taking the helm at the top spot in the Longboat Key police department on August 4.
Longboat holds a certain cachet as a pinnacle endnote for police leaders nationwide desirous to bring their skill sets for a final act to our toney shores.
There were more than 76 applicants from across the country who wanted to work as a chief on Longboat Key. Frank Rubino, one of the applicants, has been serving as Longboat’s Interim Chief since George Turner resigned as Chief earlier this year.
Tipton said Rubino was an extremely strong candidate, but that Mager’s experience running Delray Beach brought a perfect skill set of community policing, storm preparedness and next generation practices that he wants to see expanded and implemented on Longboat.
“I wanted someone who had a 21st-century policing attitude. Delray gave him a background in storm events, and Delray is also an accredited department, which is important. Chief Mager has an impressive set of skills, leadership and a track record as a team player,” Said Tipton
Rubino will return to his role as Deputy Chief when major starts in August and Tipton went out of his way to complement Rubino for stepping up as needed.
“Rubino was a strong finalist. He did a good job bridging the gap and provided consistency and strong management and service levels went on interrupted,” Said Tipton.
Russ Mager spent 29 years with the Delray Beach Police Department – his entire policing career. He was appointed as chief in August 2022.
Mager’s resignation came after about a year of contract negotiations between city officials and the Palm Beach County Police Benevolent Association. The union declared an impasse in February; a day after the city’s commission did not reach an agreement with the group on matters such as wages, retirement benefits and take-home vehicles.
In a May 15 letter to city officials, Mager warned that the city’s failure to approve a new union contract was fueling critical staffing shortages.
“As you all are aware we are presently losing officers,” the letter stated — 15 to be exact. “With our current shortages, I have been forced to temporarily reassign officers from specialty units to include pulling from the Detective Bureau, Criminal Intelligence Unit, Motors/Traffic Unit, Problem Oriented Policing Unit and Community Policing Unit.”
Mager was appointed as the city’s police chief in 2022. He replaced Chief Javaro Sims, who retired after serving for 30 years.
Mager, born in Tallahassee, grew up in South Florida. He was raised in Pompano Beach and Coconut Creek, before leaving for Florida State University in 1987.
As an officer, Mager served on the TACT Team, as an auto theft detective, SWAT Team member and Community Patrol Division member.
In 2015, Mager was promoted to lieutenant of the Community Patrol Division. He later became the special operations lieutenant of the Community Response Division. And, in 2019, he was promoted to captain as the Investigative Division commander — a role he held until December 2020, when he became assistant chief.
