Chief Joseph Galaska [City of Margate]
By Kevin Deutsch
Margate has a new police chief.
City commissioners on Wednesday appointed Joseph Galaska as chief of the Margate Police Department, a crowning achievement in his 29-plus year law enforcement career.
Galaska, who has more than 20 years of police supervisory experience, started his career with the department in 1995. In 1997, he became a neighborhood policing and bicycle officer. Two years later, he became a field training officer.
In 2002, Galaska was promoted to sergeant and served with the department’s Road Patrol Division for five years. In 2007, Galaska was promoted to lieutenant and commanded the department’s Neighborhood Policing Division.
In 2012, Galaska was re-assigned to road patrol for three years, after which he served as commander of the Investigative Services Bureau. On February 23, 2019, he was promoted to captain and assigned to the Field Services Bureau.
According to a post on the police department’s Facebook page, Galaska is “known for his adage ‘Do Better’ as a way of always looking for a better, more efficient, and more effective way to accomplish goals.”
Galaska, who had been the police department’s interim chief since September 30, 2021, takes the reigns of an agency roiled by controversy in recent years.
His predecessor, Jonathan Shaw, was fired by the City Commission on December 1 after two allegations were made against him, leading to his paid suspension and eventual removal.
The allegations against Shaw have never been made public, with city officials calling them confidential.
The police department’s Internal Affairs sergeant was assigned to investigate the allegations made against Shaw, a probe city officials have said would be completed no later than this month.
Galaska, too, has been the subject of a complaint, according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Two sources previously told the newspaper a complaint was pending in the police department alleging Galaska created a hostile work environment there.
No details about that complaint have been made public.
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