Command Security Corporation Miami Branch Manager Robert Cohen knows security, you can be sure of that. 

Miami Branch Manager Robert Cohen of Command Security Corp.

He spent years working as a staff advance man for Presidents Ford and Nixon, and Vice Presidents Ford and Agnew. He was a private consultant who worked with the Manchester, NH Police department (his hometown, where he held a Private Investigators license). And as director of community/government relations at St. Lukes Hospital in Newburgh, NY, he oversaw and directed their security program.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise then that Cohen would get involved with the security at his condominium in Doral in 1989, about a year after he purchased it.

“I was named chairman of the security committee for Casper House, where I live (in Doral Oaks), and it soon became clear to me that the theory and structure of the security in Doral Park, and the Doral community in general would have to change. All the communities were hiring security companies piecemeal, where as I recognized how much easier it would be if each communities were represented by the same umbrella security organization,” Cohen said.

He continued, “Say if the security guards in one complex saw a suspicious car headed towards the next, they could call ahead and alert the guards in that complex. You could also have radio checks every thirty minutes or so, with each guard able to support and report to the others.”

So Cohen went out and convinced the security committees of the three other condos next to his own to enlist Command Security Corporation for protection along with his own. Command was the company of record for his condo already, and Cohen respected the work they had done and the people that worked there.

And the feeling was mutual—Command respected Cohen’s advice and called him in to be an unpaid consult on a part time basis between then and 1997.

“I consulted informally with Command for several years, but in 1997 they hired me to work full time. Not long afterwards they put me in charge of the Miami Branch office, and that’s where I am today,” Cohen said.

Command, under Cohen’s guidance, is now responsible for 60% of Doral Park, staying true to his vision—although he’d like to see that figure grow. He also is responsible for several other projects, ranging from Cutler Ridge to Miami Beach to North Miami, near I-95 and Ives Dairy Road.

Cohen and his staff, which now numbers about 75, still handle primarily residential accounts, but have taken on commercial accounts and are looking to expand in that area. And they moved into a new facility in Doral (in the Courtyards, about a year and a half ago) which can accommodate those expansion plans.

“We offer a premium security guard service, both armed and unarmed, for all sorts of things, from hospitals to parking lots to residential developments to single family homes—whatever your need may be,” Cohen explained.

And their cost, Cohen said, is negotiable, depending on the type of service you require.

“There is an array of different levels of guards available. Their education level, their amount of experience, whether they might be bilingual, whether they’ll be standing or sitting—all of these things factor into the cost,” Cohen said.

Cohen’s ultimate goal for his community teams like the one in Doral Park is to have a central, full time supervisor, waiting to respond to any situations that might arise. He would be equipped with defibrillators if the need for them should arise, perhaps be armed even if the others are not—sort of a multi-purpose rapid response officer.

Cohen, who lives with his wife of five years, Elaine, has two grown children, Debra and Jennifer, a pediatrician who teaches at Long Island University. And even though they both live up north, Cohen doesn’t plan on going anywhere—he loves where he lives, and loves what he does.

“I love the area, and I love what we’ve accomplished at Command. As far as I know, there’s only been one break-in or robbery in the last five or six years, and that was an inside job. We’ve kept up with our goal of staying ahead of the curve—making sure that security is in place as more and more people move into our community,” Cohen said.

To reach Robert Cohen at Command for a consultation, call 305 597 9752.